Thoughts on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide

Going back to early antiquity, the western half of Asia Minor had been populated by Greek-speaking
peoples and the mountainous eastern half of Asia Minor (also known to historians as the Armenian Highlands) had been populated primarily by Armenians. This very ancient
Greek-Armenian era of the region began gradually changing in the 10th
century AD when various nomadic Turkic tribes began infiltrating into
Asia Minor in ever increasing numbers. By the middle of the 11th
century, Armenia, a nation that had already seen over two thousand
years of history at the time, had ceased to exist as a state.
The fall of the great Bagratuni capitol city of Ani, first to Byzantines and later to Seljuk Turks between 1045-64 AD, ushered in the new era. The fall of Ani caused a mass
exodus of Armenians to Christian lands in Europe and elsewhere. Some of these Armenian migrants, which included nobility and knights, eventually formed an Armenian kingdom in Ciliciaon the shores of north-eastern Mediterranean Sea in the late 12th century with the help of European Crusaders. This Cilician Armenian kingdom lasted as an independent state until late 14th century. Nevertheless,
with the absence a large Armenian kingdom within the Armenian Highlands of Asia Minor protecting
Byzantium's increasingly vulnerable eastern frontiers, all of Asia Minor
eventually fell under Turkish/Muslim rule by the middle of the 15th century
when the great Byzantine city of Constantinople
fell to Turkish
Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 AD. As such, a historically and culturally rich
region of the world that had from time immemorial been Greek and
Armenian had transformed into an oppressive Turkic/Islamic cesspool.

The fall of
Armenia and Byzantium would forever change the course of human history. The demise of Christendom in Asia Minor plunged the region into darkness and shifted the epicenter of civilization, which for thousands of years had been located in Asia Minor, to Europe. The terrible darkness that descended on Asia Minor persists to this day.

Even after
centuries of segregation, oppression, periodic massacres and the policy of settling Turkic and Kurdish
tribes into Armenian populated areas of the Armenian Highlands, there remained large numbers of culturally identifiable Armenians living under Ottoman rule in the 19th century. These Armenians were slowly awakening. After a national hibernation of nearly one thousand years, the cultural and national awakening
of Armenians finally began to take root in the mid-19th century within
the three main centers of Armenian culture and identity at the time: Constantinople, Tbilisi and the Mkhitarist
religious order located in Italy and Austria. By the late 19th century,
the Ottoman Empire, described by the Russian Tsar as the Sick Man of Europe,
was in steady decline. For the Christian populations of the Turkish
empire, Ottoman decline essentially translated into periodic reprisals
against Christians. Experiencing the oppressive empire's bloody decline
firsthand and watching peoples like Bulgarians and Greeks free
themselves of oppressive Ottoman rule emboldened sentiments of autonomy
among Armenians worldwide. Consequently, Armenian intelligentsia,
clergy and political activists in both Constantinople and Tbilisi began
taking steps towards actively seeking protection for Ottoman-Armenians
from foreign powers. This effort gradually evolved into also seeking
some from of Armenian autonomy in the Armenian populated regions of the
Ottoman Empire known as the Six Vilayets.
The national awakening among Armenians at the time was encouraged by
foreign powers that were opposed to the Ottoman Empire: Namely, the
Russian Empire and Western powers. Although reprisals by Ottoman Turks
against their Armenian subjects were thus inevitable, no one however
could imagine the scale of brutality Turks would resort to first in 1894
and later on a much greater scale during the First World War.

When
the First World War broke out during the summer of 1914 Ottoman Turks
found themselves on the side of the Central Powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary) opposing the powers of the Entente (Russian Empire,
British Empire, France and the United States). As part of the Central
Powers' war effort, Ottoman Turks attempted to strike at Russia in late
1914. It effort proved disastrous for the Ottoman army. Preempting an
impending Ottoman strike, imperial Russian forces mounted a major winter
offensive. This military offensive known as the Caucasus Campaign
decimated the entire Ottoman army in the region. By February, 1915 the
Ottoman army that had been sent to fight Russia had all but disappeared.
Some Turkish leaders blamed Russian-Armenians for their historic
defeat, even though Armenians (primarily from the Caucasus) made up a
small fraction of imperial Russian forces involved in the Caucasus
Campaign. Turkish leaders also began calling into question the loyalty
of all Christian Armenians living under Ottoman rule, although a vast
majority of Ottoman-Armenians, like my ancestors, were semi-assimilated,
faithful subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

It
should also be noted that Armenians that actually sought political
independence from Turkish rule were a very tiny fraction within a
largely assimilated Ottoman-Armenian community. What
a majority of Ottoman-Armenians wanted instead was protection and
equality within a political system that had grown very aggressive. Moreover, Ottoman-Armenians were not in anyway preparing to assist the Russian invasion of the Ottoman Empire.Nevertheless,
throwing the allegiance of the entire Ottoman-Armenian community into
question and using the Russian victory in the east as a pretext, Ottoman
leaders decided to be done with their already decades-long Armenian
problem also known as the "Armenian question".
The agenda to exterminate the Armenian presence from within the Ottoman
Empire may have been planned as early as 1911 during a secret
conference held in Salonika by the Young Turk government, and one of the
main motivations behind the sinister agenda was the racist ideology of Pan-Turkism.

With
the powers of the Entente engulfed in a major war in mainland Europe,
Ottoman authorities exploited the opportunity. Many hundred of Armenian
community representatives and intelligentsia within Constantinople
(mostly doctors, lawyers, writers, officials, clergy and businessmen)
were arrested on April 24, 1915 and imprisoned. Most of those
arrested were to be murdered in cold blood soon thereafter. About the
same time, Armenian conscripts within the Ottoman military were disarmed
and relegated to labor duties. Most of these were also to be
slaughtered in cold blood soon thereafter. In this manner, in a
relatively short period of time, Turks managed to incapacitate the
entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. With Ottoman-Armenians
now effectively leaderless and thus powerless, Turks began to turn
their bloodthirsty, murderous attention upon the defenseless Armenian
citizenry throughout Asia Minor. Some reprieve came from the east as
Russian forces continued advancing westward, eventually liberating
territories as far west as Van and Bitlis. But by 1917 the Bolshevik revolution
forced Russian troops to abruptly pull out of Asia Minor. With
Armenians unable to fill the unexpected military vacuum created by the
sudden Russian withdrawal, Turks redoubled their effort against their
Armenian subjects.While
the traditional date known for the commencement of the Armenian
Genocide is April 24, 1915, we need to always remember that the
systematic extermination of Armenians by Ottoman authorities was first
started in 1894.
During 1894-96
approximately a quarter million Armenian peasants were slaughtered in the interior provinces. The
wholesale slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish henchmen continued
periodically thereafter for the next twenty years, coming to a
climax during the First World War. Only
after the vast majority of
Armenians had disappeared from within Turkish occupied Asia Minor by
1923 did the
slaughter of Armenians subside. While the figure of the number of
Armenians killed by Ottoman authorities is traditionally noted to be
around 1.5 million souls, the real number is most probably over 2
million souls, with hundreds-of-thousands driven into exile.

Unlike
what victorious powers did to Germany after its defeat in 1945, the
perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide were never adequately punished and
the Turkish state that succeeded the Ottoman Empire was not held
responsible by the victorious allies at the end of the First World War.
The powers of the Entente also failed to live up to their promise of
establishing an Armenian state within the historic Armenian Highlands.
Western powers instead began pandering to Ataturk's Turkey. Some within
Western power circles were even conspiring against "impossible Armenians".
With the Russian Empire relegated to the pages of history by the end of
the First World War, Bolshevik officials in the Kremlin also began
making overtures to Turks, again at the cost of Armenian interests. In
the end, it seemed as if the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman
Empire was essentially sacrificed for the geopolitical interests of
Western powers and Bolshevik occupied Russia.

Armenians have been for many decades commemorating this historic tragedy every April 24. Every April 24 Armenians
worldwide renew efforts to encourage the global community to recognize
what happened to Armenians during the First World War as a premeditated genocide. Every
April 24 Armenians worldwide remind themselves of the lives that were lost. Every
April 24 Armenians worldwide remind themselves of their historic homeland that was lost.
Every April 24 Armenians worldwide renew efforts to make
Turkish authorities understand that their official recognition of the
horrendous crime they perpetrated against the Armenian people is long
overdue. Every April 24 Armenians worldwide renew efforts to make
Turkish authorities understand that appropriate land and money
reparations are long over due.

Knowing
they have Western and Jewish support, the Turk remains unrepentant,
defiant, belligerent and hostile. Periodically, Turks threaten Armenians
to do "it" again. And as the events of 1992-93 showed, had
it not been for the Russian Bear, the Turks would have indeed attempted to
finish what they started during the First World War.According
to the Turkish narrative, it was a nasty war and many died on all
sides. If so, then what happened to the entire Armenian population of
the six Armenian Vilayets? How is it that only Kurds and Turks now live
in those region? How did Armenians get scattered around the world? What
battle did my many of my ancestors die in? According to another Turkish
narrative, Armenians "betrayed" Turks by seeking autonomy and help from
foreign powers. That
Ottoman Armenians sought protection from Christian powers and autonomy
for Armenians
living in the six Vilayets was a very natural
reaction to living as second
class citizens within their homeland. After centuries of living as Gavurs
and
suffering periodic massacres and displacement, Armenians rightfully
sought
self-determination on Armenian soil. Nevertheless, as the Russian prime
minister stated in response to Ankara's anger with Moscow, a crime
against humanity cannot be justified regardless of reason.
Regardless of what Armenians wanted at the time and how they went about
seeking it, Turks had no right to resort to genocidal policies. Turks
had no right to massacre millions and erase the presence of an entire
nation from within their homeland nonetheless.

The
idea that we Armenians were at least partially responsible for what
happened to us or that is was a bad war where all sides suffered is a
conversation that Turks, Jews and Western powers would like Armenians to
get into because it serves to muddle the Armenian narrative and buffers
the shock of genocide.It
is therefore a stunt and a red-herring. And it is why Turks and their
allies want to leave the matter to "historians" to study. Nevertheless,
the notion that Armenians were partially responsible is akin to saying:
The victim resisted being abused, so we killed him and his entire
family, as well as all his relatives.

The
whole idea about educating, debating or explaining anything to the
Turkish government about the events of the time is counterproductive to
the Armenian cause, not to mention a total waste of time and precious
resources. Armenians must therefore resist any attempt, be it by
Westerners or be it by Jews, to get us Armenians into such kinds of
debates with Turks. The issue at hand is not whether or not Armenians
brought the tragedy upon themselves. The real issue is this: The millions strong Armenian population of pre-war Western Armenia no longer existed after the First World War.
There was a vibrant Armenian population in Ottoman controlled regions
of Western Armenia before the war. After the war, Armenians, along with
Greeks and Assyrians, had simply disappeared. This, no matter how one
looks at it, is the classic case of genocide.No
talk on the topic of the Armenian Genocide would be complete without
also addressing the role organized Jewry at the time played in what
happened. Similar to how the bloodthirsty Bolshevik leadershipin Russia were mostly Jews, similar to how the warmongering Neoconservative leadership in the US today are mostly Jews, the reformist movement in the Ottoman Empire known as the Young Turks
that was in power from 1908 to 1918 and was directly responsible for
masterminding and carrying-out the Armenian Genocide during the First
World War were also derived mostly from Jews. Ataturk
the so-called "father of Turks" was also of Jewish ancestry. Therefore, it was
perhaps only natural that Zionist-Jewish leaders in Europe at the time
would be inclined to support the Ottoman Empire's genocidal agenda
against Armenians. The following are perspectives on the subject matter
from two righteous Jews -

Israeli author Yaʾir Oron did an excellent job in exposing Zionist indifference and indirect culpability in his well known book The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide.
Jewish-Marxist activist Ralph Shoenman also exposed Zionist
indifference and indirect culpability in his seminal work known as The hidden history of Zionism.
For Zionist, the political motivation for supporting Turkey's genocidal
policy against Armenians was clear: They were seeking land rights
within Ottoman controlled Palestine. That Zionists diverted their
lobbying efforts to London when the Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end
of the war is altogether another story. In short: the Zionist founding fathers of Israel actively supported the Armenian Genocide while it was taking place.
Knowing the Jewish mindset pretty well, I am pretty sure there were
other, more domestic or shall I say financial factors at play in their willingness to help Turks
exterminate their Armenian subjects. Organized Jewry, as well as the
Ottoman Empire's well established Jewish community, must have known at
the time that with wealthy Armenians (and Greeks) out of the way they
would have less economic and financial competition and thus more sway in
Turkey.

Nevertheless, for decades, Turks have regularly employed powerful Jewish lobbyists within the
US and elsewhere to undermine Armenian efforts to gain recognition to
what happened to the Armenian nation one hundred years ago. This
Jewish-Turkish-Western collaboration is essentially the collaboration
of genocidal powers responsible for the murder of tens-of-millions of
people around the world. They keenly understand each other. This
collaboration, particularly between their national and economic elite,
continues to this day and despite some outward appearances it will not
end for the foreseeable future. There is a historic bond between Jews,
Turks and Anglo-Americans that goes back centuries. This love affair
turned into an unholy marriage during the Cold War for it was during
that time when "The incredible Turk"
became an indispensable ally of the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance
against the Russian-speaking world, against Arabs, against Iranians. The
historic bond between Turks, Jews and Anglo-Americans is therefore rooted in shared, geopolitical interests.Geostrategically, Turkey is too important to give up. This is why Uncle Sam stations nuclear weapons on Turkish-occupied Armenian soil. Therefore, Armenians would do well to understand that whatever
problems the Western world has with Turkey today is not about Turkey per se but
about who's in power in Ankara. In other words: It's an internal matter between friends.
The West is not about to turn against Turkey - not now, not for the
foreseeable future.Now,
since there are Armenians that blame the religion of Islam for the
Armenian Genocide, I'd like to state the following: I was very happy
that Katholikos Aram I of the Cilician See publicly stated "Armenians were not massacred because they were Christians". Politics
and pan-Turkic nationalism - not religion - was the reason why Turks
sought to exterminate Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. Yes,
the Ottoman foot soldier or the brigand that did the actual
killings of Armenians were mostly Turkish and Kurdish Muslims, but those
that actually planned and ordered the murder of an entire race were
more Jewish than Muslim.
Those that actually planned and ordered the murder of the Armenian race
were more atheistic than religious. And those who gave refuge to
Armenians at the time were mostly Muslim Arabs and Iranians. In fact,
even before the mass exterminations of Armenians during the First World
War, Grand Sheikh Salim al-Bishri of Egypt issued a Fatwa condemning Turks for the killings of Armenians in Adana. During the First World War, Al-Husayn Ibn 'Ali, Sharif of Mecca decreed the following -

While we are on the topic of Islam, the following lecture by a well known Islamic Sheikh Imran Hosein should be watched by all Armenians. The very charismatic sheikh makes references to "Anglo-American-Jewish"
alliance; talks against the Chechen Jihad against Russia claiming it was
funded and organized by Washington and Saudi Arabia; calls Russia the
true progeny of the Byzantine Empire; claims the Ottoman Empire
was un-Islamic and that its existence served as a wedge between Islam
and Orthodox Christianity; mentions the Jewish role in the Bolshevik
revolution; states communism was created to destroy the Russian Empire;
says those behind communism gave Crimea to Ukraine to weaken the Russian
nation once the Soviet Union dissolved; warns against the problem of
not distinguishing between Russia and the Soviet Union; emphasizes the
need for true believers of Islam to unite with Orthodox Russia; he also
makes references to Armenia several times -

It is wrong to blame the religion of Islam for the Armenian Genocide.The
sheeple in any given country can be manipulated to do whatever their
manipulators want. Religion, as with another other ism, can be easily
tweaked by a political/financial elite and turned into a murderous
weapon. Islam was not the reason nor was it the motivational factor
behind the Turk's genocidal agenda against Armenians. Armenians have
historically had good relations with Muslims. Unfortunately,
however, it has become very fashionable in recent years to blame
Muslims for everything bad that occurs in the region. The problem in the Middle East has never been Islam per se but Turks, Jews and Westerners.

All Armenians have family stories

A
majority of Armenians living today are the off-springs of genocide
survivors. Most Armenians therefore have stories of death and survival.
The following is my family story.

On my maternal side:
At the turn of the 20th century, my maternal ancestors were a large
family of bakers and farmers in Kilikia (Cilicia). My mother's father
Hakob was young man when Turkish soldiers entered his hometown and began
rounding up Armenians to place them on death marches to the Syrian
desert. My grandfather's immediate family, however, met another fate.
For reasons that my family does not know, Turkish jandarms murdered my
grandfather's parents and some of his siblings. My
grandfather somehow escaped and managed flee to the mountains
surrounding his town. He was said to have lost his mind after witnessing
the murder of his family. Khent Hakob or crazy Hakob was the nickname that he would
eventually earn. Some time after living off the land, he joined a band
of Armenian fighters who, among other things, were also involved in
helping Armenian girls and orphans escape Turkish and Kurdish captivity.
Thereafter, my grandfather engaged in various raids into Turkish and
Kurdish towns and villages in what essentially mounted to
search-and-rescue operations seeking Armenian captives. According to
stories recounted by my grandmother, my grandfather had turned into a
ruthless killer. He was also said to be an excellent marksman with his
Russianmade Mosin rifle, with which he is said to have killed dozens of Turks and Kurds. According to one account of his
exploits, he shot dead a Turkish Mufti on a Mosque minaret as the Muslim
cleric was preparing to recite morning prayers. According to another
story, he infiltrated into a Turkish village where he knew a young
Armenian girl was being held captive. In the middle of the night, he
killed her captor and took her, on horseback, back to Armenian territory
in French administered Syria. Once back in secure territory, he gave
the rescued girl to a young Armenian man who was an orphan and told him
to marry her. My
grandmother would recount that my grandfather would at times come home
with the blood of his victims on his clothing. When she would ask what
the red stains were, he would only tell her that they were blood stains from
slaughtering sheep. I did not have the honor
of meeting my grandfather for he died before I was born. My mother and
grandmother would say that even in his deathbed my grandfather would say
the only thing he regretted in life was not killing more Turks.

On my paternal side:
As tradesmen, medical practitioners and lawyers, my father's family
were affluent townsfolk in Sebastia at the turn of the 20th century. One
particular relative held the title of village chief. Through their
professions my father's family thus had direct contact with Turkish
authorities within the area they lived. According to stories recanted
by my father, his family would even once-in-a-while host Turkish
officials at their home. Thus, when rumors of impending expulsion orders
were heard, my father's family sought the protection of the Turkish
authorities, with whom they thought they had good relations with. The
Turkish governor, having received the request by my father's family to
speak to him, invited the representatives my father's family over for
dinner to see what they had to say. According to my father, his family
pleaded with the Turkish official for protection. Claiming to be good
Ottoman citizens and having no political affiliations, my father's
family asked the Turk not to drive them from their hometown. My father's
family and the Turkish official had a very friendly discussion over
dinner. However, as they were about to leave the Turk's residence, my
father's family asked if they could have the Turkish official's word
that no harm would come to their families. In response, the Turkish
governor ensured them that my father's family were well liked and
respected by Turks... but that orders were orders. Soon after April 24th
1915, the order came to expel or eliminate all Armenians living in the
region. My father's extended family was decimated. Some were killed
outright by Turkish and Kurdish brigands. Some died from disease and
starvation on forced marches. Some simply disappeared, never to be found
again. And the rest, including my paternal grandfather, were driven to
the Syrian desert starving, barefoot and penniless.

An interesting footnote to my father's family story was that of my
father's paternal uncle. As Turks and Kurds were raiding his town, the
young man escaped certain death by jumping into a fast flowing river and
disappearing downstream. He was thought to have drowned. Many decades
passed. One day, by a very strange coincidence, perhaps providence, my
father met someone in the United States who turned up to be his lost
uncle's son. It turned out, after jumping into the river and swimming
downstream for a long distance my father's uncle was rescued by a
Kurdish family. This Kurdish family fed him and kept him hidden from
Turks and other Kurds for a long time. He eventually made his way to
Constantinople and got married to an Armenian there and gave birth to
several children. One of his children migrated to the US and by
providence met his paternal uncle, my father.

Turkish apology or recognition is worthless without reparations

There are some fundamental things we Armenians need to recognize about Turkish-Armenian relations.Foremost, we Armenians need to understand that Ankara's "recognition" of the Armenian Genocide is utterly worthless if it is not accompanied by significant reparations. Armenians want at least portions of Western Armenia and financial reparations to compensate the lose of two million lives as well as their material possessions. With that said, it is downright delusional to think that Ankara will voluntarily return historic Armenia to its rightful owners
or pay the tens-of-billions of dollars that it owes. What's more,
Turks also know that once they give in to Armenian demands there will be Greeks, Assyrians, Syrians and Kurds demanding restitution as well. Therefore, Armenians want things from Turks that Turks will never give up on their own. Therefore,
it is not in Turkey's interest to recognize the Armenian Genocide. In
fact, it is not in Turkey's interest to even have a prosperous Armenia, which is why they have blockaded the country for twenty-five years. Finally, we Armenians need to recognize that the
nation known as Turkey today is founded upon the graves of Armenians,
Greeks and Assyrians. Turkey is therefore an artificial construct that
lives only through the support of the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance.
Moreover, the Turkish military is a paper tiger. One good strike at
Turkey and the whole country will fragment into several pieces, not much
unlike Iraq. Ultimately, we Armenians must look at Turks as temporary
squatters in Asia Minor.

Putting
aside a handful of Turks (essentially the country's Marxists and
ultra-liberals) that have in recent years seemingly begun siding with
Armenians, a vast majority of Turks remain unrepentant, defiant and even
openly hostile towards Armenians.

Armenians
need to understand that when it comes to matters pertain to the
Armenian Genocide there are essentially two kinds of mainstream Turks:
The good Turk and the bad Turk. The good Turk wants
to whitewash Turkey's role in
the Armenian Genocide, saying it was a terrible war where many died on
all sides. The good Turks does apologize for the wholesale massacres of
Armenians and does say that what happened may have constituted something
resembling a genocide, but goes on to say that Armenians need to simply
move on and forget about reparations because Turkey is in no position
to give anything and, besides which, too much time has passed. The good
Turk basically wants Armenians to forget the past and simply look to the
future with Turks as good neighbors.The bad Turk says it's
Armenians that actually attempted a genocide against Turks. The bad
Turks says Armenians backstabbed their Turkish neighbors by siding with
Russians. The bad Turks says whatever happened to Armenians was
warranted. The bad Turk therefore say Armenians deserved what happened
to them. The bad Turk also says they will do "it" again if need be.

Nevertheless,
both the good Turk and the bad Turk essentially want one thing from us
Armenians: They want us to forget about our lands and money reparations.
Accepting an official apology and forgetting everything else is exactly
what Uncle Sam wants from Armenians. In fact, this is what the US
sponsored Turkish-Armenian reconciliation agenda is all about. The
following video from Voice of America is a good example of what I am
talking about -

The bottom line is this: Turks are willing to recognize and apologize
as long as Armenians do not ask for land and money. They would have
recognized and apologized a long time ago had they been sure that such a
gesture by them would not lead to other things. For Armenians, Turkish
recognition and apology is worthless without reparations in land and
money. Turks know this. Therefore, no self-respecting Turkish government
will give into Armenian demands, which to them would also mean
essentially giving into Kurdish, Greek and Assyrian demands as well. This
is why discussing the Armenian Genocide with Turks is a total waste of
time. This is why US sponsored events such as Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation is also a total waste of time. What's more, let's understand that a prosperous Armenia, especially one that is allied to Russia, is not within the strategic interest of Turkey or Western powers.
Nevertheless, crimes such as genocide cannot be forgiven or forgotten
or left unpunished. Thus, sooner or later, one way or another, the Turk
will
be made to pay.

The centennial is only the beginning

While
western civilization was waking up, Armenian civilization was going
into a hibernation that it would not come out of until hundreds of years
later. Unfortunately, it took the near annihilation of the Armenian
race to truly awaken the Armenian spirit. One hundred years ago
Armenians faced near total annihilation. Perhaps
it was providence that we survived. Today, we may be a broken people
but the Armenian spirit is alive and well and we have a nation once
again. It has come a long way since our little
homeland gained its independence from the Soviet Union twenty five years
ago. Long gone are the days when Armenia suffered severe energy
shortages. Long gone are the days when Armenia suffered from food
shortages. Long gone are the days when Armenia under constant danger of
invasion. Long gone are the days when Armenia's factories were being
torn down and sold to Iranians at scrap metal prices. Long gone are the
days when Armenian politicians flirted with suicidal political policies
such as the Goble Plan. Long gone are the days when world powers
neglected Armenia. Although the devastation brought upon by the Western
style, capitalistic chaos of the 1990s and its "oligarchic" legacy
endures somewhat today, the Armenian state is nonetheless progressing.
Although poverty and unemployment are still at unacceptable levels,
Armenia continues to develop.

Despite
immense odds and difficulties both foreign and domestic, Armenia has
managed to not only survive in the tumultuous Caucasus but has also
become a major political player. In fact, for the first time in over a
thousand years, Armenia has actually increased in size and major powers
around the world are being forced to consider the Armenian factor in
their political calculations.Rome was not built in a single day, nor were any of the best in the West.
All fledgling nations go through periods of growing pains. Small
nations, poor nations, nations landlocked in hostile geographic
locations will naturally have longer and more problematic growing pains.
Despite our best efforts to make politics/society in Armenia ideal, we
have to also realize that Armenia will have to travel the same painful
and difficult path every other developed nation has traveled throughout
history. There is no other way. There is no magic cure. It would be best
for us to simply assume that the road will be bumpy and therefore
prepare as best as we can for the pain. Our fledgling homeland in the
Caucasus still has a long-long way to go. What Armenia desperately needs
today is political evolution, not a Western-funded revolution. We have a
beautiful republic today that is secure; we have a republic today that
is stable; we have a republic today that is moving forward with the help
of its sons and daughters and sometimes - despite its sons and
daughters. Armenia is a nation with great potential. Armenians are a
people endowed with great potential. Under the right leadership Armenia
will be able to reach its potential. It will happen. It's only a matter
of time. Nevertheless, with the new century upon us, today is a day when
all Armenians should put aside their petty differences and rejoice in
knowing that we have a free and independent homeland, an Armenian
republic that continues to grow stronger year-after-year. In the
meanwhile, we Armenians need to stop becoming unwitting tools for those
seeking to undermine our fledgling republic. We Armenians need to stop
unwittingly participating in the Western/Turkish agenda of dissemination
poisonous propaganda about Armenia. Armenia's Western funded NGOs,
news outlets and political activists exists for a sole purpose:
undermining the social fabric of the Armenian nation, alienating the
Armenian Diaspora from the Armenian homeland, demoralizing Armenians and
sowing sociopolitical discord in Armenia. We need to stop
unwittingly helping those who are conspiring against Armenia. We waited
nearly one thousand years for this opportunity. Now that it's upon us we
need to learn to appreciate our statehood and act responsibly. What we
do with our resurrected state is very important and each and every one
of us has a constructive and positive role to play.

The
centennial of the Armenian Genocide has served to galvanized the
Armenian nation. I don't recall Armenians this united in purpose. During
the past one month we saw our dispersed nation unite into a single
organ and become one fist and one voice. A positive energy has been
created. This energy has to be preserved. This energy has to be
harnessed for the benefit of the Armenian homeland.

We Armenians will never forget the more than 2 million martyrs that gave their lives from 1894 to
1923. We Armenians will never forgive the perpetrators and their modern day successors of this
most terrible of crimes against humanity. We Armenians will neverforget those who stood with us nor will we ever forget those who did not stand with us during this centennial. We Armenians will always demand recognition, justice and reparations. We Armenians will always demand the return of Western Armenia. We Armenians are willing to work another century if need be to make sure that justice is served, Turks are punished and Western Armenian is returned.

I call on all self-respecting Armenians to always remember the road we as a nation traveled on to
get to where we are today. I call on all self-respecting Armenians to love and appreciate their statehood. I call on all self-respecting Armenians to recognize that the only way to prevent another genocide is to make sure Armenia maintains a powerful military. I
call on all Armenians to live their lives in a manner that would make
our martyrs' deaths meaningful. They could not have died in vain: A
death that serves no purpose is a tragedy, a death that serves a purpose
is immortality. Therefore, see to it that their spilled blood
fertilizes the spirit and awakens
the consciousness and help gives birth to a new Armenia. Let their
deaths be the beginning of a new and better life. The centennial
therefore is not the end, it is merely the beginning, and the coming
century will be a period of Armenian revival.

I
must admit that centennial events exceeded all my expectations. The quality
and the efficiency of organized events were a very pleasant surprise
for me. The atmosphere in Armenia was vibrant, exciting and alive. There was, quite literally, electricity in the air. I'm greatly impressed with the work carried-out by the centennial
committee. From LA
to the Vatican to Yerevan to Etchmiadzin, they did a monumental job in commemorating a
monumental occasion. Therefore, my deepest gratitude to Armenian
officials, clergy and Diasporan activists for the wonderful
spectacle we all were treated to. The following links are to
notable events -

I
would like to point out that I was particularly happy that our martyrs
were finally sanctified by our church. The canonization of our
slaughtered ancestors were discussed by our church leaders for many
years. I guess the centennial was indeed the best time to get it done. I
am very glad the Vatican stood with us (a stark lesson to Greek Orthodox
Churches who to the detriment of all Christian Orthodoxy still refuse to accept our church). It
was wonderful seeing the great Russian Czar in Armenia once more. I
would have been happier with the French president's visit to Armenia had he not traveled to Azerbaijan on the same day.I was surprised by the recognition given to us by the governments of Germany and Austria,
especially because they have millions of Turks living within their
lands, although we shouldn't make too much out of their recognition. I was very happy to see the presidents of Serbia and Cyprus in Armenia: Two truly brotherly peoples with a shared history and common enemy.

But where was the Iranian president?
According to many of our Iranian-Armenian colleagues, Iran was
supposed to be a better, more reliable friend to Armenia
than Russia. So, what happened? Did Tehran, as Americans like to say chicken-out, like last time
when Ahmadinejad was in Armenia and quietly flew back to Iran the night
before he was scheduled to make an appearance at the memorial complex?
The rumor at the time was that Ankara had threatened Iran in some way. Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a good litmus test for friendship.
Therefore, I ask: If Tehran can't bring itself to stand with us
Armenians on this matter, should it be trusted by us on other matters? I
am criticizing Tehran as a friend of Iran. I harbor no ill
feeling towards Iranians whatsoever. In fact, I see Iran as a valuable
neighbor and a potential ally. But to suggest that Iranians are more
reliable or more friendly towards Armenians than Russians is ludicrous.

Where were the Greek and Georgian presidents? Busy kissing Turkish asses as usual? I
actually respect Iranians much more than Greeks and Georgians. Politically speaking, what a
worthless bunch of people Greeks and Georgians are.Nevertheless, some thoughts regarding the EU and genocide
recognition: Historically, traditional
European powers - France and Germany in particular - have sought to
keep Turkey at an arms length. Europe wants Turkey close but not too close.
Europe wants good relations with Ankara but at the same time they don't
want Ankara to be part of the European club. Europe will therefore trade
with Ankara, they will allow Ankara to be part of their military
apparatus but they will use the Armenian Genocide as one of their tools
to keep Ankara out of the EU. With that said, the further Ankara drifts
towards political independence and conservative Islam the more strained
its relations will become with the EU. But, ultimately, Turkey as a
nation is simply too valuable for Europe to give up. To think therefore that
European powers will sacrifice all their ties with Turkey for a tiny,
impoverished, landlocked and Russian-backed nation in the south Caucasus is a silly
fantasy. Moreover, let's not forget the powerful backing Ankara has
traditionally had from Anglo-American-Jews. Washington, London and organized Jewry have
always lobbied in Europe on behalf of Turks. Why? As I keep saying:
Turkey is a buffer against Russians, Arabs and Iranians. Therefore, Armenians would do good to recognize that whatever
problems the Western world has with Turkey today is not about Turkey per se but
about who's in power in Ankara. In other words: It's an internal matter.
The West is not about to turn against Turkey - not now, not for the
foreseeable future.

Needless to say, and as always, I was very disgusted by the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance. I was very glad that the royal pig and his piglet actually stayed away from Armenia. But did Armenians really think Obama might have said the "G" word this time? Are we really this naive? With that said, it's
unfair to blame Obama for any of this for the fault lies not with any
particular American president but on the political establishment in
Washington DC. Ultimately, the Armenian Genocide is not recognized by
Western powers today not because of Armenia's "obscurity" or the lack of
"awareness" among western peoples but because of geopolitics andalso because Jews don't want any competition to their lucrative Holocaust
business.Nevertheless,
I am glad more-and-more Armenians are beginning to view the
Anglo-American-Jewish world as an enemy. If Uncle Sam could not get
himself to
say the "G" word on the occasion of the centennial, it no longer matters
what he says or does
in the future. What matters is that Armenians worldwide are beginning to
see
the political West as an evil presence and a cause of death and
destruction around the world.

The centennial has shown us Armenians who are our friends and who are our enemies. As I said: Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a very good litmus test for friendship. And with that in mind, let's all recognize that the Armenian nation has one true friend and ally and that is the Russian Bear.

Finally, I am very glad to report that the Turkish-Western agenda to derail centennial commemorations failed miserably.
None of their tactics, be it the Gyumri massacre, Azerbaijani attacks
on the border, "Founding Parliament's" promise to incite an uprising on
April 24th or Victoria "fuck the EU" Nuland's appeal to Western-led
activists in Armenia, worked in the end. Speaking of Founding
Parliament's promised centennial revolution, after a few of their
ringleaders were arrested a couple of weeks ago, Washington's shameless freak show
in Armenia simply fell apart without as much as a whimper. All in all, I
was very impressed with the way President Sargsyan's government has
handled matters.

As I said earlier, there is positive energy throughout Armenia now. At
least for now, the Western-sponsored doom-and-gloom campaign is abated.
At least for now, Uncle Sam's smut-peddlers are silenced. We now have
the momentum. We must do what we can to maintain this momentum. The centennial is not the end, it is the beginning. We
cannot allow our martyred ancestor's death to have been in vain. Let us
use their memory to build a better Armenia. Let
us use their memory to remind ourselves that Armenian statehood and
political stability is something that needs to be preserved at all
cost. With the past one hundred years in clear hindsight for us all to
assess
and ponder, and the chaotic post-Soviet years well behind us as well,
we as a nation
need to look forward to the next one hundred years and build on what we
have. In looking forward,
we must also recognize that our building efforts should not only apply
to Armenia
but also to the Armenian. As much as Armenia was destroyed during the
past
one thousand years, so was the Armenian. We as a people have suffered
one thousand years of material, spiritual, cultural and
genetic damage. Let this century be a period of Armenian revival. It can be done because within us all
dwells the genetic imprint of our glorious ancestors.

What happened to Asia Minor a thousand years ago is an important geopolitical lesson
to be learned by regional Christians. One of the lessons
that is still quite significant today is that the fall of the great
Byzantine Empire in the 15th century begun with the fall of Armenia in
the 11th century. Ultimately,
it was religious zeal, cultural arrogance and political shortsightedness of Greeks and
Armenians at the time that essentially led to the demise of Christendom
in Asia Minor. Greeks and Armenians - as well as Russians - would do well to learn the lessons of the past one thousand years. A
thousand years ago Armenia guarded the vulnerable eastern approaches of
the great Byzantine Empire. Today, a resurrected Armenia guards the
vulnerable underbelly of the great Russian nation, a nation that is the successor of the Byzantine Empire. What Greeks and
Armenians could not accomplish one thousand years ago, I hope to see
Russians and Armenians accomplishing in the next one thousand years. I hope to see the rise of a new Byzantium. I hope to see a union of Christian Orthodox nations.

As a grandchild of genocide survivors I promise that I will do
all that I can to somehow, someday avenge my murdered countrymen. I pledge to
keep the memory of our martyrs alive within my children. I pledge never to forget that we have unfinished business. I pray for the souls of all my countrymen who opted
to die as Armenians instead of betraying their God and
nation. I pray to see Asia Minor - the cradle of
human civilization, the cradle of Aryan nations, the cradle of
Christianity - become the stronghold of Armenians, Greeks and Russians. I pray to see Western
Armenia, a Turkic cesspool today, returned to its former glory. And
with that in mind, let's collectively pray that Sarikamish II - of course without the
first one's Bolshevik ending - is not too far down the Anatolian road.

The need for self-reflection and cultural unity

Ever
since the near-death experience we had a century ago we
Armenians have been patting ourselves on the shoulder because of how wonderful
we perceive we are. I understand that this is a natural form of self-reassurance
that develops after coming face-to-face with death and managing to live. To feel good about our selves, we
kept reminding ourselves (and anyone else that would listen to us)
that we were the first Christians... we were the first this, the first
that... this famous person was Armenian, that famous person was
Armenian... We need to stop this silliness before it kills us.

If we truly love our homeland we seriously need to begin talking about our national flaws. After all, to a significant degree, it is our national (i.e. collective) flaws that has gotten us to where we are today.If we are genuinely concerned about Armenia's future and if we genuinely love our nation we need to come down from our self-induced euphoria and start taking a close, hard look at who we are today. Armenians need self-reflection.

I
do not want to come across as if I'm trying to belittle our very rich
history. Armenia was one of the greatest nations of the ancient world.
Armenia was a major power during much of the preceding two thousand
years before Armenia lost its independence in the 11th century.
Moreover, much of modern human civilization has its origins within our historic
homeland. Proto-Armenians brought civilization to lands stretching from
India to the British Islands. Again, I am not attempting to belittle
our magnificent history and immensely rich cultural heritage. Armenians do have bragging rights. I am simply longing to see the revival of Armenia. I am hoping to see the resurrection of those Armenians that put Armenia at forefront of human civilization. It
can be done because deep within our people lies dormant the potential
to be a great nation once again. We simply need a cultural reawakening. Therefore,
we have some work to do because the modern Armenian is too
materialistic, too proud, too arrogant, too negative, too impatient, too
cynical, too self-righteous, too ostentatious, too gossip-prone, too
politically ignorant and worst of all - too clannish.

Along side Armenia, Armenians themselves have also suffered nearly one thousand years of damage. In
my opinion, the repair of this cultural/genetic damage should take precedence over
constructing buildings in Armenia. In other words, before we attempt to reconstruct Armenia we first need to reconstruct the Armenian.
Case in point: Our wealthy Chobans-in-Armani-suits are a reflection of
modern Armenian society. A nation
full of materialistic, overly-ambitious, very intelligent, fiercely
independent, deeply pessimistic, painfully cynical, extremely jealous,
impossibly stubborn and politically naive people with Asiatic
mindsets cannot in all honesty expect to have an "enlightened"
government. To fix Armenia we therefore somehow need to figure out a way
to fix the
Armenian.
Armenia's problems today are thus an accurate
reflection of modern Armenian society and culture, and no single
politician - especially one that is serving a Western agenda - will be
able to cure Armenia's fundamental ailments. What Armenia desperately
needs today is a sociopolitical evolution; what Armenians desperately
need today is farsighted nationalism, patience and cultural unity.

One
of the most important lessons we Armenians were thought one hundred
years ago was the crucial need for cultural and thus national unity.
Ironically, however, one of the things that continues to get into the
way of Armenian unity is Armenian pride.

Allow me to explain.

We don't need "proud" Armenians. We
already have too many "proud" Armenians walking this earth without any
connection to their Armenian homeland. We have too many proud Lebanese-Armenians; we have too many proud American-Armenians; we have too many proud French-Armenians; we have too many proud Russian-Armenians; we have too many proud Persian-Armenians; we even have proud Turkish-Armenians.

Armenian "pride" comes from
Armenian arrogance. Armenian pride comes from Armenian tribalism. In other words, Armenian pride is about the Armenian ego. Therefore, Armenian pride is destructive and one of the causes for the divisions in our people. What we
desperately need instead of "proud" Armenians are nationalist
Armenians. I say this because a proud Armenian can be proud of his or
herself
anywhere on earth, an Armenian nationalist on the other hand can only
feel proud in Armenia. A "proud" Lebanese-Armenian can easily
discriminate against an Armenian from Armenia. And, vice-versa, a
"proud" Yerevantsi can easily discriminate against an Armenian from
Lebanon. A nationalist Armenian, however, would never discriminate
against another Armenian because of where they were born.

Speaking
of destructive Armenian pride, there is another form of pride that is
very detrimental to the Armenian homeland and to Armenian nationalism
and that is "Western Armenian" pride.

There
are significant numbers of offspring of genocide survivors living in
the Diaspora today who consider Turkish-occupied Western Armenia to be
their one and only homeland. Although this emotional attachment to
Western Armenia is in itself quite commendable, Diasporan Armenians who
feel this way more often than not tend to look at the current Armenian
state in the south Caucasus as a foreign, "Russified" entity. These champions of Western Armenia feel they have little in common with
the current Armenian state. Dr. Henry Astarjian, a well respected
Anglophile who also happens to be a well-respect ARF activist, is one
of those Diasporans today advocating Western Armenianism in lieu of
pan-Armenianism. His thoughts on the subject matter -

Living quite comfortably in their adopted homelands, worthless
Diasporans like this clown above tend to subconsciously seek all sorts
of excuses to refrain from the difficult building-process that is
urgently required in Armenia. Diasporans like this Astarjian character,
who are more Turkish and Kurdish at heart than Armenian, are the
fundamental reason for Armenian disunity and political impotency.
Diasporans like Astarjian go out of their way to immerse their children
in the cultures of their adopted Diasporan homelands but when they
happen to be in Armenia they do their best to preserve their "Western
Armenian" culture. This is a destructive dichotomy within the Armenian
psyche that I can't yet adequately explain. We saw this process play
out recently among Syrian-Armenian refugees in Armenia. When Syrian-Armenians fled to Armenia, instead of immersing
themselves into their homeland's culture, they opted instead to preserve their
Syrian-Armenian identity -

No wonder there is a disconnect between native Armenians and Disporans.
Instead of taking the
opportunity given to them by fully embracing their homeland,
Syrian-Armenians (known to be one of the most "patriotic" Armenians
in the Diaspora) have been doing their best to essentially preserve
their
assimilation. And these people have the nerve to look down at Armenians
in Armenia for being "Russified"? I don't mean to digress from the topic but it's
this kind of attitude displayed by Diasporans that fosters resentment
among native Armenians. Why would Armenians try to preserve their Syrian-Armenian identity in Armenia? Why?!?!?! I just don't get it.

That
significant numbers of Diasporan Armenians today feel they
have little in common with today's Armenia is beyond doubt. That the
constant doom-and-gloom about Armenia by our Western-led propagandists
is aggravating the situation is also beyond doubt. That assimilation plays a
big role in this condition is also beyond doubt. But in my opinion
this condition is also a by-product of our conscious efforts to preserve
"Western Armenian culture" within Diasporan societies. When a child
is raised begin told that his or her ancestral homeland is Western
Armenia and that his or her native tongue is Western Armenian, that
child will inevitably have a difficult time feeling a cultural and/or emotional
connection to the Armenia we have today.

Are
we trying to attach Diasporan children to a nation that only exists in
concept, at the expense of the nation that exists in reality?!?!?!

Ethnic identity, religious faith and language are interconnected and are the most important unifying and defining factors in any given society. They are in fact the three pillars of identity and nationality. In
my opinion (an opinion of a Diasporan let me remind you), I
believe there
needs to be ONE
Armenian homeland, ONE Armenian language and ONE Armenian church. For
thousands of years rulers
around the world have recognized the crucial need for cultural unity
through the
adoption of ONE language and faith under ONE state. This millennial old
wisdom however seems to somehow escape a significant portion of
Armenians today.

Just
thinking: Is our attempt to preserve the Western Armenian language in
the Diaspora actually becoming a stumbling block to genuine national
unity?

Without
a homeland within which to evolve in a language will inevitably die.
It is therefore no surprise that The Western Armenian branch of the Armenian language is on the path of extinction.Even increasing numbers of Diasporan
Armenians are beginning to see the language as being on the verge of death. It's death
blow came on April 24, 1915. It's been slowly dying ever since as fewer and fewer numbers of Armenians are speaking it.How
many Armenians do we know that
can speak Western Armenian without mixing into it a large amount of Arabic,
Turkish, French or
English words? How many Diasporan Armenians speak Western Armenian at
all? How many will speak it in one or two more generations?The reality of the matter is that Western Armenian is
on the path of extinction and its course with destiny cannot be reversed because
Western Armenian does not have a homeland within which to live and
develop.

Just thinking: Should the entire Diaspora simply adopt the official language of the Armenian republic?

Armenia
has a desperate need for cultural unity. As
much as I hate to admit it, our clinging to "Western Armenian" identity
and language is aggravating the situation and actually creation the very basis for
division. Although we have one homeland and one official language, we
have significant numbers of Armenians conceptualizing another homeland
and teaching their children another language. We need to bury our
Diasporan mentalities. We need to bury our provincial mentalities. The divisions we have had have been the by-products of our tragic history. There
is no Western Armenia. There is no Eastern Armenia. There is but ONE
Armenia. There is no Diasporan Armenian. There is no native Armenian.
There is but ONE Armenian. If
we are to grow and prosper as a nation, there has to be one culture,
one language, one church, one state. We waited one thousand years for
this opportunity. We can't squander it
now. At the end of the day, we need to realize that the Diaspora is a
dead end. The Diaspora is
in fact a graveyard for Armenians. Any penny spent on the Armenian
Diaspora
is a precious penny wasted. While it exists, the Diaspora has to be a
source of support to the Armenian state. The Diaspora has to therefore, speak the language of the Armenian state, both figuratively and literally.

I'm
a Diasporan Armenian. I grew up hearing both dialects of our language
because we had relatives in Armenia who would visit us periodically.
Today, I have a home in the Diaspora and a home in Armenia. I know both
sides intimately well. I am therefore being very objective and rational when I say I think our language divide
(i.e. cultural divide) is a very serious matter. Although many of
us do not want to talk about it, we have a serious language/cultural
divide within our nation. Western Armenian speakers are incapable of
understanding Eastern Armenians speakers - linguistically and
culturally. Sadly, however, a
vast majority
of Diasporan Armenians are totally blind to the matter's seriousness
essentially
because of the powerful instinct to preserve what was uprooted during
the
genocide. I also suspect Armenian traits such as arrogance and pride
playing a role as well. However, we Armenians need to be mindful that
language is a very powerful tool. Language - be it
English, Russian, French, Turkish, Eastern Armenian or Western Armenian
- imparts
cultural values and a specific mindset/outlook to the speaker.

A common language is one of the core elements and a most crucial prerequisite in national
unity. As
emotionally difficult as it may be, we need to stop trying to revive
the dead. Western Armenian cannot be saved. We need to recognize our loss and look forward. Accepting the official
language of the Armenian Republic will go a long way in helping the Diaspora better
understand the homeland and its people and vice-versa. If
we want future generations in the Armenian
Diaspora (as long as the Diaspora survives) to feel a deep connection to
and a
genuine affinity towards their ancestral homeland in the south Caucasus, they
need to be taught the official language of the Armenian state. If we are to feel
as
one nation and one culture and if we want our Diaspora to feel
intimately connected to
the Armenian state, we Western Armenians need to put aside our pride, arrogance and
tribalism and learn to embrace the official language of our
one and only Armenian homeland. In short: If we want our Diasporan
children to truly feel connected to the Armenian state they need to be thought the official language of the Armenian state. I would like to once more remind the reader that the liberation of Western Armenia can only start from Yerevan.

Russians and Turks will clash again, will Armenians be ready this time?

As
long as Russian nationalists are in power in
Moscow, Russians will continue seeing Armenia as an asset and Turkic
peoples as a threat. That Russia will militarily protect Armenia from all regional predators is therefore beyond question.Armenia's membership in the CSTO and the EEU and the Russian troop presence in Armenia is a guarantee that Turks and
Azeris will remain on their sides of the border.

Once more I'd like to remind the reader that despite Moscow's very lucrative trade deals with
Ankara during recent decades,
Moscow has not stopped recognizing
the Armenian Genocide; Russian officials have not stopped from appearing
at the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan; Moscow has not allowed
Artsakh to be invaded by Azerbaijan; nor has Moscow's profitable
dealings with Ankara stopped the
Russian military from paying less attention to the security of the
Armenian-Turkish border.Unlike
in the Western world, where virtually everything has its price,
Moscow's
approach to regional politics is firmly based on its national security
needs, and Armenia is an integral part of Russia's national security and
it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

As long as Russian officials continue protecting Russian interests and as long as Russian power and influence continues to grow throughout the Caucasus and the Black Sea region, Russians
will sooner-or-later run into problems with Turks. Regardless of any
trade deals they have between them, the resurgence of Russia - and
Turkey's growing Islamization - thus sets the stage for a future clash between Russia and Turkey. In my opinion, such a clash is not merely a probability but an inevitability and such a clash will no doubt cause tectonic shifts in
the political and cultural character of the region.

Let's recognize that Russians
and Turks are from two, vastly different cultures and civilizations. Ethnic
Russians are mostly decedents of central European Vikings settlers and ancient Iranic peoples that
were Christianized about one thousand years ago and the Russian nation
is the progeny of the Byzantine Empire. Muslim Turks, on the
other hand, are the decedents of various central Asian nomadic tribes
that invaded eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Armenian Highlands
during the past one thousand years. Christian Slavs and Muslim Turkic
peoples have clashed throughout history. It
is essentially a natural rivalry within the human ecology that is
similar to that of bears and wolves (pun intended) competing over the
same feeding territory. Russians and
Turks have come to blows over a dozen times only during the past two
hundred years - each time with Russia winning. In the 1990s
we again saw this rivalry between
Russians and Turks play out in the Caucasus and in the Balkans, and more
recently we saw it take place within Syria and Crimea. In each case the
Russian Bear was victorious. The relationship between Moscow and Ankara
cannot get too warm because Turks
today have an instinctual fear of the Russian Bear and Russian have an
instinctual disdain towards Turks. Another reason why Moscow will never
lower it guard when it comes to dealing with Turks is Russia's large
Turkic/Islamic population. Moscow has an inherent problem in this
regard. Therefore, demographic concerns as well as fears of uprisings by
its Turkic/Islamic population will force Russian officials to always
keep relations with nations like Turkey at an arms length. Simply
put: Russian officials know all too well the potential risks of pan-Turkism and blindly
embracing Turks. There may be periods of
peace and cooperation between the region's two natural competitors but the rivalry
between Russia and Turkey will never totally disappear. Recognition of the inevitability of a Russian-Turkish conflict is what
has made the political West embrace the Turkish nation for the past two
centuries.

It's
not only me predicting an eventual Russo-Turkish clash. In the following article we see George
Friedman's Stratfor also acknowledging this natural geopolitical inevitability -

After all is said and done, one thing remains crystal clear for me: If
Western Armenia is to be liberated someday (and I think it's a very
real possibility), it wont come by the way of an "Armenian-Kurdish" alliance as some delusional idiots in the Armenian community think, it won't come as a result of "international law" as some Western-financed activists foolishly think, and it wont happen as a result of
Armenians collaborating with Islamized Armenians inside Turkey. If Western Armenia is to be liberated someday it will only happen by Russian-Armenian troops marching westward from
the
south Caucasus. Kurds and Islamized Armenians will no doubt be utilized as
factors on the ground only when such a Russian-Armenian force from the
Caucasus enters Western Armenia.

We Armenians must
understand that the only realistic chance we will have for liberating at least portions of Western Armenia is a future Russian-Turkish conflict.
A Russian-Turkish war is the only calculus we can place any kind of
hope on. This calculation must be an integral part of our nation's
long-term strategic formulations and an integral part of Armenian
lobbying efforts in Moscow. I'd like to remind the reader that such a
thing has a historic precedence. Something similar to what I'm
suggesting nearly became a reality in 1915 when Russian
troops successfully liberated large portions of Western Armenia.
That Bolshevism reversed Russian gains is altogether another matter for
discussion. Barring any
future calamity within Russia (and there is nothing on the radar screen
to suggest such a thing), as they have always, Russian forces will crush Turks in any future
conflict.

Nevertheless, the road to Western Armenia starts in eastern Armenia, and the keys to Western Armenia's liberation are found in the Kremlin.Diasporan
Armenians need to begin thinking of the current Armenia state as their
ONLY hope for resurrecting Western Armenia. All Armenians need to begin
seeing Moscow as the ONLY place where to lobby Armenian interests. This
is the long-term, pan-national agenda we Armenians
must embark on - if - we want to see Western Armenia liberated one day.
I have no doubt that Russians and Turks will come to blows once more. I have no doubt Turks will be defeated once more. Will we Armenians be ready?

Thoughts on the liberation of Western Armenia

Turks will never willing give back Western Armenia to Armenians. Turks will never
pay the many billions-of-dollars necessary to compensate Armenians for
the lives lost and property looted. Moreover, placing
any hope on "international law" for the return of Western Armenia or the
payment of reparations is as good as placing hope on the tooth-fairy. International law always takes a backseat to the old adage of "might makes
right". International law always takes a backseat to realpolitik and
geopolitical interests. International law is created by the strong to control
the weak. Once you have the big guns and the big funds, you simply take what is
yours and then you manipulate "international law" to excuse your actions.Once you have the big guns and the big funds, you simply reconfigure
international law to meet your needs.

I
have long maintained that Armenia's main problem today is not its
"oligarchy" or "corruption" but its landlocked geography and the
economic blockade its two neighbors have placed against it. Armenia will
sooner-or-later need to expand and breakout of its mountain prison if it is to prosper and be taken seriously by the international
community. I have always maintained that collaboration with Russia (and
to a lesser extent with Iran) is the only way forward for Armenia in
this regard. I have always maintained that the best route for
Armenia to expand is through Georgia to the Black Sea and/or through
Azerbaijan to the southern Russian border. My sentiments regarding this
geostrategically important matter are reflected in the following blog
entry -

With that said, the
liberation of Western Armenia is also a hypothetical possibility and it
should definitely be addressed. However, we should be mindful that if Western Armenia is to ever be liberated,
chances are that it will have to be a joint Russian-Armenian venture. The keys
therefore to Western Armenia is not found in some international law, it is not
found in Brussels, it is not found in Washington and it is not found in the Armenian
Diaspora. The keys to Western Armenia is found in Moscow and in Yerevan,
and to a lesser extent in Tehran.Armenians need to wise-up, stop wasting
their time and limited resources in an anti-Armenian vipers next like Washington and take the "ՀայԴատ"
to the highest
and most secretive offices of the Kremlin instead.

I fully acknowledge the fact that this is a very
complex geopolitical matter. There are many variables involved, not the
least of which is the unpredictability of tomorrow. No one but God knows
when the day will come when Armenian tanks will drive into Van and
reclaim Armenia's most ancient capitol city. That glorious day may or may not
happen
within our life times. Having said that, we as a nation need to be
vigilant and
ready for when an opportunity to do so does finally arrive. If we are
not ready to exploit such an opportunity, then obviously there is no
chance whatsoever. However, if we are
ready and work towards that particular goal, then there is a chance, a
very good chance. Therefore, it's ultimately up to us as a people to
decide what we want
for our future.Sadly,
however, when it comes to the discussion of liberating Western Armenia
many Armenians either are indifferent to it, approach it irrationally or
are categorically
against it. And
this apathy and irrationality is the main obstacle we face in this
matter, not Turks. Therefore, the "enemy" is us.

While
the problem may be the Armenian, Armenia the nation-state is on route
to actually becoming ready to embark on such an endeavor one day. Yes,
despite what you hear about Armenia from Western-funded activists and
propaganda outlets, Armenia is gradually becoming a major regional
player thanks to its membership in the CSTO and the EEU. Unlike
in 1914, Armenia is an independent nation with a major military victory
already to its credit. Unlike in 1914, Armenia has a relatively
powerful military that
is getting stronger by the year. Unlike in 1914, Armenia is an established nation-state with
an important strategic alliance with the Russian Federation and very warm relations with
Iran. Unlike in 1914, Armenia also has a worldwide Diaspora than will come to its aid in time of need.Armenia
today is a developing nation-state and one that already yields the most
political clout in the south Caucasus.

Therefore, the
last thing I want is for us Armenians to be asleep at the wheel once
again
when opportunity comes knocking on the door. Apathy, the lack of
political awareness and patriotic ambition within Armenian society is my biggest
concern. One hundred years ago the same situation allowed Turks to
ravage historic Armenia and exterminate the region's native Armenian
population. Despite all the patriotic songs and
stories we have heard from the period of the First World War, the
reality of the matter is that most Armenians at the time were either
complacent with their overall condition as semi-Turkified Ottoman
subjects or simply scared
into inaction.Let's
remember that the Ottoman military had been utterly decimated and
Turkey was not a serious fighting force soon after the start of the First
World War. Moreover, when Russians retreated from Western Armenia in
1917 they left behind large stockpiles of weaponry that Armenians could
have used for the liberation effort. Had we as a people
collectively and enthusiastically rallied around the goal of liberation we would
have been able to preserve significant portions of our historic lands -
despite the Russian retreat in 1917 - and there
would most probably not have been an Armenian Genocide to lament over.
In my opinion, Armenian apathy, political ignorance, complacency and lack of preparedness
allowed the genocide to take place.In this regard, I think we all can learn a lot from our warlike compatriots in Artsakh. Being that Armenians of Artsakh are the only major group within
our nation that were not totally subjugated by any power at any time in history, they are the direct genetic decedents of the warrior-aristocracy of the ancient
Armenian Highlands. Armenians of Artsakh carry within their genetic code the traits of our ancient ancestors. Therefore,
it is fully understandable why a majority of the greatest Armenian men
in modern times were derived from the general vicinity of Artsakh. This, in my opinion,
speaks volumes about the importance of pedigree.While the rest of the Armenian nation was deprived of its aristocracy and reduced to being subservient peasants, artisans and merchants during the course of the past one thousand years,
much to the chagrin of Persians, Turks and Bolsheviks, Armenians of
Artsakh
were able to preserve our people's ancient characteristics:
Resourceful, disciplined, resilient, stubborn, intelligent, patriotic
and warlike.Needless to say, Azeris found all this out the hard way during the 1990s.Artsakh
reminded all Armenians that the external enemy has always been and continues to be the
Turk. Artsakh showed us all that the only way forward is through armed
struggle. Artsakh also gave us all a real lesson in genuine patriotism and
realpolitik.In a certain sense, Artsakh saved Armenia and the
Diaspora, not the other way around.Getting
back to the First World War: Only a minuscule percentage of Armenians
actually fought for Armenia's independence in Western Armenia.
Insignificant numbers, lack of discipline and the lack of cooperation
and
coordination among various Armenian groups often characterized the
Armenian
liberation effort at the time. Not
only that, as noted above, many Armenians at the time were even
rebelling against the Russian Czar and many within the Ottoman-Armenian
community were actually conspiring against Armenian freedom fighters.As
much as we are inclined to blame Turks, Kurds, Germans, Brits, French
and Russians for our devastating losses during the First World War, we
Armenians also share equal blame. In fact, I would go as far as saying
what happened to Armenians back then was primarily the fault of Armenians because, unlike us Armenians, all
the other players at the time were merely doing what was in their best
interests. We need to learn from our mistakes and look forward.

There
are many important lessons to be learned from the First World War: The
need for national unity; unconditional service to the national flag; a powerful
military; being a part of genuine alliances with regional powers; a
heightened awareness to the political world we all live in; and
the importance of geostrategic foresight.Moreover,
the need to approach Armenia's current sociopolitical issues rationally
and objectively is also fundamentally important - so is the need to
stop chasing our tails with dangerous Western fairy-tales: toxic
concoctions known popularly as Democracy, Capitalism, Civil Society, Westernization and
Globalization. More
importantly, we need to collectively work towards deepening our
strategic alliance with the Russian Bear. We need to use our God given
talents to figure out a way of turning Russia's national interests into
an extension of Armenian interests. The foundation to do just that
exists today for Moscow's and Yerevan's political interests converge to a
great degree. This needs to be further cultivated in an organized effort.

The convergence of
interests between our two nations needs to become institutionalized. Armenian
officials, business tycoon and activists therefore need to be a constant presence
within the walls of the Kremlin. While Armenia's increasingly powerful military is
without any doubt Armenia's TACTICAL advantage on the global chessboard,
Yerevan's alliance with Moscow must be cultivated to become
Armenia's STRATEGIC advantage on the global chessboard.

Armenia's
expansion is therefore mainly based upon the nature of Russo-Armenian
relations, as well as various
other geopolitical
and socioeconomic factors. Armenian officials need to work on these
factors and the rest of us need to be patient and pray for the best. I
firmly believe we
will liberate our historic lands. It's merely a matter of when. I will now
briefly
address some reoccurring questions and objections some Armenians
have every time the topic of liberating Western Armenia is brought up in
conversation.

Will Russia help?

When the circumstances are right, in other words when the West is in no
position to intervene perhaps due to a major war or economic collapse
or when the Turkish state is on the verge of falling apart, Moscow may be very
willing to participate in a military campaign inside Turkey in
order to gain direct assess to the very strategic Strait of Dardanelles
or to gain a foothold
in the warm water sea ports in Cilicia. Geostrategically, it would
fully serve Moscow's interests if their regional rival Turkey is broken
into pieces and some of the pieces given to its strategic ally Armenia.Will Iran participate?

Iran's position in such a scenario is more difficult to predict for
Iran is an Islamic state and it also has a natural fear of Russians.
But, with proper negotiations with Moscow and Yerevan and perhaps some
incentives, Tehran may very well be convinced to seek the destruction of its historic
rival, the Turk, as well.

How will Armenians defend the land when it's liberated?

The lands
in question can easily be defended by a well
armed and well trained modern military force. The land is rugged and
alpine, once you acquire it and dig in, you are in total control.
Artsakh is a good example of how effectively a relatively small but
capable force can protect a large mountainous region. Also, if you do
have a nuclear device behind
you, you are
virtually untouchable. North Korea is a good example this. Besides, I
only
envision Armenia making a move into Western Armenia when
the Turkish nation is weak and if Yerevan has Russian and Iranian
support. In other
words, when the Turk is vulnerable and the geopolitical situation is
appropriate, you stomp on its head as fast as you
can and as hard as you can and you don't stop stomping until you
accomplish your
mission.

What about Kurds?

Western
and Israeli interests in the region, which have been pushing for greater
Kurdish autonomy, may cause serious problems for Armenian interests. Kurds
may as a result pose problems for any westward expansion by Armenia.
But Kurds can, at least theoretically, be negotiated with. There is
therefore a possibility that Kurdsmay
be willing to accept the liberation of at least some portions of
Western Armenia, if of course they receive
sovereignty in other Kurdish populated territories in exchange. In the
event, however, Kurds oppose the liberation of any portions of Western
Armenia, they
can be made to comply. Because they are very fragmented and backward,
Kurds are a much easier problem to solve than Turks. In any case, Kurds who decide to remain within the liberated territories Western Armenia will do so as Armenian citizens. Having said that, however, the emphasis should be placed on
negotiating with Kurds and convincing them to accept sovereignty in territories south and west
of Van.

What is so important about Western Armenia?

Western Armenia, also known
as Armenian Highlands, is the cradle of Armenian civilization as well as
the cradle of human civilization. Western Armenia is where millions of our
martyred ancestors lie in unmarked graves. Moreover, the region is rich
in natural resources and
agricultural potential. Every Armenian wants to see a prosperous
Armenia, right?
Well, a prosperous Armenia will need to expand eventually. I envision the Armenian homeland growing in
population in the next one hundred years. Armenians will eventually need more land, if only for living space. Therefore, what
better land than our lands to expand into? More importantly, the Armenian Highlands - with access to the Black Sea - hold great geostrategic value.
The strategic value of the territory that
Ankara controls today is one of the fundamental reasons why Turkey is a
major
political and economic player in the region. The territory in question
is an important international intersection and a potential major hub for
trade. Those who control the Armenian Highlands automatically become
major political players throughout the region and
beyond.The only way we
Armenians will be able to get some respect from the international
community is by
creating a large and powerful nation: A nation that would be able to sit
on
the table as an equal with major powers. Let's not forget that politics is always dirty business. If we Armenians want our homeland to truly prosper we need to be aggressive yet prudent. Isn't this how the wealthiest and the most powerful nations on earth got their start? Isn't
this how the wealthiest and the most powerful nations on earth live
today? To this effect, we need to get rid of our victim mentality. We
need to get rid our our
Diasporan mentality. Unfortunately, we Armenians tend to think small. When
one
thinks small one accomplishes small. As
long as we remain small, dependent on foreign aid and politically
indecisive and thus vulnerable, the international
community will give us lip service at best or plot our destruction at
worst. Nevertheless, whether or not we will be
able to liberate our historic lands in Western Armenia is more-or-less based upon the following factors:

A settlement of the Artsakh dispute in Armenia's favor

The strength of the Armenian economy

The strength of the Armenian
military

The strength of Russian-Armenian alliance

The nature/quality of Armenian-Iranians relations

The nature/quality of Armenian-Kurdish relations

The nature/quality of Armenian-Arab relations

The nature/quality of Armenian-West relations

The nature/quality of Armenian-Greek relations

The degree of Turkey's internal problems

The degree of Turkey's problems with Western powers

The psychological readiness of Armenians

The above are more-or-less the main geopolitical factors that would determine whether or not we
will be able to see the liberation of Western Armenia one day. It's a
tall order. Moreover, these are all hypothetical and to some extent
wishful thinking. The
condition today is not yet ripe. The factors are not yet there. But, as I
said: If we keep this agenda alive in our minds, desire it with all our
hearts and be patient, there is a possibility. But if we
don't do the aforementioned, then there is no chance whatsoever. Thus, the pivotal factor is played by
nobody but us.

Western Armenia can only come under Armenian control when Armenia
becomes powerful enough to take it back from Turkey. The only way Turkey will recognize the Armenian
Genocide and pay its long overdue reparations in money and land is when it is on its
knees. Anyone that thinks any of this can be done otherwise is
delusional. From the beginning of time it's been "might makes right"
and it's no different today. International
law is made and broken by the rich and the powerful of this world. International law is made by the powerful to control the weak. We
must realize that only the strong can impose their version of
history upon others. Only the strong can right the wrongs of history.
Only the strong can enjoy a prominent position on the negotiation
table. Only the strong are invited to lavish banquets as honored guests. It
does not matter if Yerevan (or Moscow) officially recognizes the Turkish
border. Legal documents and treaties are made to buy time and are thus
meant to be broken. Examples of this are
far too many to recite. We need to allow our politicians to play their games
on the
international stage. But it is our responsibility to keep
the light of Western Armenia lit within our hearts and minds - until the
day
comes when Ankara is on its knees. Until then, however, the prosperity
and security of the current Armenian state takes precedence over all
other concerns.

We
have one homeland and that is the Armenian state, with
Artsakh. The road to Western Armenia starts in Artsakh and may yet pass
through Javakhq. Therefore, our people's number one priority today should be to
secure Artsakh's independence or its unification with Armenia and to
strengthen the Armenian state militarily, economically and demographically. Everything else is secondary at this
juncture. I
am not advocating a war with any nation. I simply want to see Armenia
build a powerful military and economy for self-defense. I am confident
that Turkey will sooner-or-later fall apart. We Armenians simply have to
be ready to reclaim what is ours when it happens.

ArevordiApril, 2015

***

Events Commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

***

Before the Holocaust, Ottoman Jews supported the Armenian genocide’s ‘architect’

Author Hans-Lukas Kieser says a desperate Zionist press praised the empire even during the slaughter of its minority population, a murder which Israel continues to gloss over today.This past June, a scheduled Knesset vote to recognize the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide was canceled due to a lack of government support. Because of Israel’s complicated on-again, off-again diplomatic relations with regional powerhouse Turkey, “it hasn’t been able to do what many Israelis have ethically wanted to do — publicly recognize the Armenian genocide in the Knesset,” Prof. Hans-Lukas Kieser tells The Times of Israel from his office at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Last year Kieser was awarded the President of the Republic of Armenia Prize for his significant contribution to the history of the Armenian genocide. He has also recently published the book, “Talaat Pasha: Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide.”The political biography explores how Mehmed Talaat, more commonly known as Talaat Pasha, almost single-handedly masterminded the Armenian genocide. Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) were rounded up on April 24, 1915, followed by the systematic extermination of 1.5 million people, primarily because of their Armenian ethnicity. The ideologically motivated genocide took place under the supervision of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), led by three de facto leaders of the Ottoman Empire at the time: Ismail Enver, Ahmed Djemal, and Talaat. Collectively all three were known by their military titles as the “Three Pashas.” Even though Turkey continues to officially deny the Armenian genocide, historians unanimously agree that it is a historical reality.Laying foundations for a Turkish state Kieser’s book claims Talaat operated a new messianic form of nationalism that sought to “dilute” non-Muslim identities in his attempt at new nation building in Turkey in 1915. Talaat was the “mastermind of his genocidal universe,” Kieser claims. The historian also says it was Talaat — rather than Kemal Ataturk — who laid the foundations for the modern Turkish nation state, which began in 1923. “Of course the Turkish Republic [itself] came about under Kemal Ataturk,” Kieser says. “Talaat did not plan a republic — he was a son of the empire, after all. But he made a number of important steps so that Ataturk could then establish the Turkish nation state.” Talaat led the Ottoman Empire into World War I “in jihad,” says the historian, transforming Asia Minor into a Turkish national home and creating a “Turkey for the Turks,” as per the slogan at the time. Kieser’s book, over 400 pages long, makes for tough reading at points — especially as the historian recollects the systematic murder of Armenian Christians. He notes, for example, that the “removal of Armenians from Eastern Asia Minor mainly took place from May to September 1915, where women and children endured starvation, mass rape, and enslavement on their marches [towards death].” Kieser says a great number of villages in northern Syria became an “arena of mass crimes” in 1915, where Armenian civilians — who were considered “fair prey” — “were raped, abducted, and murdered en masse without any protection, or punishment for the offenders.” In the eyes of his admirers, however, Talaat is still seen as a great statesman, skillful revolutionary, and far-sighted founding father of the modern Turkish state, Kieser points out.This narrative is especially pertinent in Turkey today, as it increasingly takes a more authoritarian and Islamist approach to its political identity. This is particularly notable, Kieser stresses, when it comes to the fundamentalist ideology of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Talaat really is the elephant in the room [in Turkish politics] today,” Kieser says. “Erdoğan is the master of a party, so in that sense his [ideas] fall in line with Talaat — even if it’s not acknowledged very much in AKP circles in an explicit way.” “But implicitly, Erdoğan and Talaat share a number of similarities where a democratic start eventually moves to a very authoritarian end,” he says. Kieser says that like Talaat, Erdoğan is “far from a real democrat,” and shows a very “vague notion of what constitutionalism really means.” Moreover, like the CUP leader, Erdoğan places all his efforts “on how to achieve and keep power.”

Ripples of shame Israel’s recent decision to continue to remain silent on the 103-year-old genocide has garnered its share of criticism from historians, academics, writers and human rights activists — many from within Israel itself. Prof. Yehuda Bauer, a leading Israeli historian and an academic adviser to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, said in a June radio interview that the Israeli parliament’s failure to recognize the Armenian genocide was a “betrayal.”Benjamin Abtan, the president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) and the coordinator of the Elie Wiesel Network of Parliamentarians of Europe, in an article published in Haaretz in June claimed that Israel had “a particular responsibility in recognizing the Armenian genocide [to] ensure mass atrocities [were prevented] in the future.” According to Kieser, recognizing the Armenian genocide holds a relevance for Israelis today beyond the usual discussion of Israel-Turkey relations. Jews, he says, historically played a key role in promoting propaganda from the Ottoman side as Armenians continued to be slaughtered. The historian says that Talaat enjoyed “particularly good Jewish press” in Istanbul and abroad” during the period surrounding the genocide — notably in Germany, where newspapers like Deutsche Levante-Zeitung praised Talaat as “an outstanding leader” and the “savior of imperial Turkey.” Although this glorification smacked of propaganda and lies, Kieser claims many Germans bought into the words of the Jewish press at the time and were affected by its corrosive logic.Currying favor? The historian recalls how many Jews loyal to the Ottomans largely looked the other way where the suffering of Armenians was concerned. This included figures such as Alfred Nossig, who helped found both the General Jewish Colonization Organization (AJK) and the Zionist Organization (ZO). Both were set up for the purpose of Jewish lobbying across the Middle East and elsewhere, and subsequently encouraged intimate relations between Jews and Ottomans. However, Kieser is keen to emphasize that some historical context is needed. This was a crucial turning point in Jewish history — before the Balfour Declaration was announced in 1917. Jews were looking for diplomatic favors — from a myriad of countries — wherever they could find them, in the hopes of securing Zionism’s ultimate end goal: a Jewish state in Palestine. Consequently, a number of Jewish newspapers purposely tried to promote relations between Talaat and Jewish politicos and diplomats within the dying Ottoman Empire. They even grossly exaggerated these relations for propaganda purposes, Kieser says. The German Jewish newspaper Die Welt — the mouthpiece of the Zionist Organization — for instance, wrote in 1913 of Talaat’s “friendly relations with many Jewish personalities.”Still, even for all of the positive Jewish press Talaat received during this period, his attitudes to Zionism were complex. On the one hand, Talaat did not want to be associated much with Jews and Zionism. But on the other, there were potential benefits in publicly courting Jewish political interests. In 1913, an article published in the Istanbul-based L’Aurore, a Jewish newspaper financed by Zionists, praised the benefits of Jewish-Turkish relations, even hinting that an alliance between Pan-Judaism and Pan Islamism in Turkey could be a viable political option — something Kieser says Talaat was seduced by. But the historian is keen to stress that Talaat in no way sympathized with Zionism, despite claims from both observers of the time and a number of historians since. “We know from what he said and what he wrote that he was in no way sympathetic with Zionism. It’s also clear from the negotiations that he only needed the Jews to a certain extent in order to survive internationally. And he was successful in this regard,” he says. “The Jewish Question” involved Jews jostling for political favors from the Ottomans, who still held considerable sway in the Middle East. But the power dynamics also worked the other way too, the historian explains. “Talaat’s relationship with Jews during this time gave him considerable international leverage that he successfully used to deflect attention from Armenia,” Kieser says. “In spring 1915 — which was a honeymoon for the Zionists in Istanbul — Talaat made sure there were no conflicting issues internationally because he wanted to strike the Armenians,” says Kieser. “Jews feared they would suffer the same fate as the Armenians, so they in no way welcomed any pro-Armenian or pro-victim activity [reporting] because they feared for themselves.”

Upstart Zionist youth take a stance There were, however, some exceptions — notably, a group of young Zionists called Netzah Yisrael Lo Yeshaker (NILI), or, The Eternal One of Israel Will Not Lie, a pro-British espionage group in Palestine at the time. NILI felt a strong sense of solidarity with the Armenian victims, even writing reports which they sent out to the international community in the hope of waking them up to the atrocities. “The NILI group — which contained people like Aaaron Aronson and others — saw the Armenian genocide, and even wrote long reports about it,” Kieser says. “They saw that this total stigmatization and finally extermination was a process that could also happen with the Jews.” “So they were deeply sympathetic not just emotionally, but also in a Biblical and prophetic approach,” he adds. “But they were a small minority.” “Unfortunately, the silence carried on many decades after the war. So you had Jews in Israel and the Jews in Turkey who continued to help Turkey deny the Armenian genocide,” Kieser says. Kieser makes a point in the book of comparing the Armenian genocide with the Holocaust, and finds some similarities. “Imperial cataclysm and a particular combination of circumstances in the first months of WWI made the Armenians an obvious target,” he writes.

He goes on to state, “Actors from the top and below, extremist ideas, entrenched prejudices, and material incentives colluded in the brute destruction [of the Armenians].” A little more than two decades later, Europe’s Jews were to experience “an analogous situation,” he observes. “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Hitler asked his generals in his infamous Obersalzberg speech on August 22, 1939 — just days before Germany’s invasion of Poland. Talaat “certainly wasn’t Hitler,” says the historian, admitting that he is reluctant to make direct comparisons between both far-right demagogues. Nevertheless, both leaders share a number of similarities, Kieser says — they represented societies, states and political parties that embraced radical domestic violence to overcome what they believed were crisis and defeat. “Talaat was the mastermind of a single party regime,” Kieser concludes. “It was a single party rule that very strongly stigmatized one particular group.”

He supported the brutal Ottoman sultan against them, believing this would get the sultan to sell Palestine to the Jews

The Armenian question has occupied the Zionist movement since a mass killing of Armenians was carried out by the Turks in the mid 1890s – prior even to the First Zionist Congress. Herzl’s strategy was based on the idea of an exchange: The Jews would pay off the Ottoman Empire’s huge debt, in return for the acquisition of Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state there, with the major powers’ consent. Herzl had been working hard to persuade Sultan Abdul Hamid II to accept the proposal, but to no avail.

“Instead of offering the Sultan money,” Herzl’s diplomatic agent Philip Michael Nevlinski (who also advised the Sultan) told him, “give him political support on the Armenian issue, and he’ll be grateful and accept your proposal, in part at least.” The Christian European countries had been critical of the murder of Armenian Christians at the hands of Muslims, and committees supporting the Armenians had been founded in various places, and Europe also offered refuge to leaders of the Armenian revolt. This situation made it very difficult for Turkey to obtain loans from European banks.

Herzl eagerly took the advice. He felt that it was appropriate to try any means possible to hasten the establishment of a Jewish state. And so he agreed to serve as a tool of the Sultan, by trying to convince the leaders of the Armenian revolt that if they surrendered to the Sultan, he would comply with some of their demands. Herzl also tried to show the West that Turkey was in fact more humane, that it had no choice but to deal with the Armenian revolt this way, and that it aspired to a ceasefire and a political arrangement. After much effort, he also met with the Sultan on May 17, 1901.

The Sultan hoped that Herzl, a well-known journalist, would be able to alter the Ottoman Empire’s negative image. And so Herzl launched an intensive campaign to fulfill the Sultan’s wish, casting himself as a mediator for peace. He established ties with and held secret meetings with the Armenian rebels, in an attempt to get them to stop the violence, but they were not convinced of his sincerity, and did not trust the Sultan’s promises. Herzl also made energetic attempts to this effect in diplomatic channels in Europe, which he was very familiar with.

As was his way, he did not consult with other Zionist movement leaders, and kept his activities secret. But in need of some assistance, he wrote to Max Nordau to try to recruit him for the mission as well. Nordau responded with a one-word telegram: “No.” In his eagerness to obtain the charter for Palestine from the Turks, Herzl publicly declared – after the start of the yearly Zionist Congresses – that the Zionist movement expresses its admiration and gratitude to the Sultan, despite opposition from some representatives.

Herzl’s chief opponent on this was Bernard Lazare, a French Jewish intellectual, leftist, well-known journalist and literary critic, who had fought prominently against the Dreyfus trial, and was a supporter of the Armenian cause. He was so incensed by Herzl’s activity that he resigned from the Zionist Committee and abandoned the movement altogether in 1899. Lazare published an open letter to Herzl in which he asked: How can those who purport to represent the ancient people whose history is written in blood extend a welcoming hand to murderers, and no delegate to the Zionist Congress rises up in protest?

This drama involving Herzl – a leader who subordinated humanitarian considerations and served the Turkish authorities for the sake of the ideal of the Jewish state – is just one illustration of the frequent clash between political goals and moral principles. Israel has repeatedly been faced with such tragic dilemmas, as evidenced in its long-standing position of not officially recognizing the Armenian genocide, as well as in other more recent decisions that reflect the tension between humanitarian values and realpolitik considerations.

The REAL Holocaust: The 1915 Armenian Genocide and its Russophobic Origins

"As a result of the Jewish lobby's recommendations, the Young Turks government removed Armenians from Anatolia in 1915. Hence, the economy of the country was left in the hands of Jewish capital." - recent article in a pro-Erdogan Turkish newspaper.

Johann von Bernstorff (German ambassador); "The way the Armenian problem was solved was hair-raising. I can still see in front of me Talaat's cynical expression, when he emphasized that the Armenian question was solved."1

Einar af Wirsén (Swedish Diplomat) "When I kept on pestering him about the Armenian question, he once said with a smile: 'What on earth do you want? The question is settled, there are no more Armenians'".2

Henry Morgenthau (American Ambassador (He was Jewish)); "Whatever crimes the most perverted instincts of the human mind can devise, and whatever refinements of persecution and injustice the most debased imagination can conceive, became the daily misfortunes of this devoted people. I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915."3

On May 30th 1915 Talaat Pasha issued the Tehcir Act, which on paper was a security measure the Turks put forth to prevent a Russian-Armenian revolt by forcibly relocating the nationals of Armenia to Mesopotamia and Syria.4 This was the story the Young Turks told the world to avoid and minimize any public disapproval or foreign resistance. The relocations involved disarmed Armenians being forcibly marched to camps in the inner deserts of Anatolia and Syria, and these camps were not stocked with necessary supplies for survival.5 The properties of these people were confiscated and sold to new arrivals, the men were often singled out to be killed first, and the women were often enslaved and raped en masse. The accusation of Russian-aligned rebellion was used as justification and cover. American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau frantically remarked;

"Have you received my 841? Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eye witnesses it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.Protests as well as threats are unavailing and probably incite the Ottoman government to more drastic measures as they are determined to disclaim responsibility for their absolute disregard of capitulations and I believe nothing short of actual force which obviously United States are not in a position to exert would adequately meet the situation."6

A confession is considered as valuable only if it contains some true and verifiable details of the crime the investigator did not know of. This rule of criminal investigation was observed in the controversial telegram transcriptions written in The memoirs of Naim Bey.7

On March 25, 1915, Talaat states: "It is the duty of all of us to effect on the broadest lines the realisation of the noble project of wiping out the existence of the Armenians who have for centuries been constituting a barrier to the Empire's progress in civilization."8

What events led to these horrific genocide and near destruction of the Armenian people, and why are the Armenian people important for European history? Did it happen, or didn't it, and who was behind it?

Armenians are an ethno-linguistic-religious group distinct from their surrounding neighbors. They have their own church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was founded in the 1st century CE, and became in 301 CE the first branch of Christianity to become a state religion. They have also their own alphabet and language which is classified as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The historical homeland of the Armenians sits north of the Fertile Crescent, a region of substantial importance to modern human evolution. Genetic and archaeological data suggest farmers expanding from this region during the Neolithic populated Europe and interacted/admixed with pre-existing hunter-gatherer populations.

Furthermore, Armenia’s location may have been important for the spread of Indo-European languages, since it is believed to encompass or be close to the Proto-Indo-European homeland (Anatolia or Pontic Steppe) from which the Indo-Europeans and their culture spread to Western Europe, Central Asia and India.9The Holocaust of the Armenian people wasn’t simply stopped at the borders of Turkey; Ottoman troops by the Young Turks insistence had also invaded Persia. During this invasion Christian Armenians and Assyrians alike were slaughtered. In fact, approximately half of Persia’s Christian Assyrians alongside about four-fifths of the Christian Assyrian leadership were killing during this time by Turkish and Kurdish invaders.10

Two months after the (largely Jewish led) Bolshevik revolution the new Russian government began withdrawing Russian troops from the Caucasus. This withdrew the only ally the Armenians had and put their remaining people at risk of extinction. At this time the last refuge for these people was the small remaining unconquered land of historic Armenia centered around Mount Ararat.11

Mount Ararat is traditionally the Christian-accepted location of Noah’s Ark in the Book of Genesis. Armenia was the first Christian country in the world. The Armenian language is the most ancestral, oldest Indo-European Language left since the extinctions of its Indo-European predecessors Anatolian and Tocharian. It’s hard to overstate the ethnocultural significance in this event threatening complete extermination of the most ancestral Indo-European speakers and also the most ancestral Christians. Much of the Armenian highlands were lost; Western Armenia was renamed “Eastern Anatolia” by the invaders. With the survivors and refugees concentrated in Caucausia the impending invasion threatened complete annihilation.

The Christian leader Catholicos Gevorg V ordered Church Bells to peal for six days as all classes of Armenian people were called to take up arms with the women and children readying supplies and the entire survivors of the nation prepared for total war.12 The President of the Armenian assembly stated “If we are to perish, let us perish with honor.”13 In the battles of Sardarabad, alongside Abaran and Karakilisa, the outnumbered Armenians managed to defy the odds and fight off the Turkish invaders. Historian Christopher Walker remarked that with a loss at Sardarabad "it is perfectly possible that the word Armenia would have henceforth denoted only an antique geographical term."14

The Destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire resulted by most estimates with 1.5 million of the 2 million Ottoman Armenians being exterminated. The history of Armenia is intertwined with that of Europe and Russia especially. Russia had generally had an Armenian presence through its history but after the Russo-Persian wars in 1828 Russia annexed parts of the historical Armenian nation. Since that time Russia has generally defended the rights of Christian minorities in the Ottoman lands. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is perhaps the most visible example of a Russian Armenian given that he was born to an Armenian father.

But the Armenians had, for the most part, been very well integrated in the empire as well. Armenians were formerly dubbed the "loyal millet".15 The Armenians opportunities in the region arguably increased with the transition from Greek Byzantine rule to Ottoman rule. Armenian villages traditionally had a high degree of autonomy as well. Any sort of separatist nationalism would seem unviable, and the main Armenian conflicts with the Ottoman Muslims were based about regional autonomy and protection from bandits. The primary Armenian political organizations with public protests were advocates pushing for autonomy such as the 1890’s Kum Kapu demonstration.16 These requests were quite reasonable as the Armenians had suffered various attacks and murders from Muslim Kurds and other bandits who, by the Ottoman empires laws, held legal superiority in court.

During this time the Sultan Abdul Hamid II attempted to shed the “sick man of Europe” label his failing Ottoman Empire had by encouraging a modernization of the Empire, which required a stronger and more centralized government role in citizens affairs. Abdul Hamid II was attacked in the British press as the “Red Sultan” for various atrocities committed against minorities such as Armenians and for all intents and purposes was the perfect archetype of a Tyrant.17

The Young Turks who sought to overthrow him by contrast were revolutionaries. They shouted their slogans of “Hürriyet, Musavat , Uhuvvet” inspired from the French “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” meaning “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. Turkish ethnicity is often described as a "melting pot" of all Anatolian people ranging from the gene pools of the Balkans, Anatolia, and parts of Asia."18 The Young Turks were also rationalists following a materialist ideologies like positivism which they prioritized over religion; The Islamic authorities the Ulama even denounced them as "trying to change Islam into another form and create a new religion while calling it Islam".19

The Ottoman Empire was historically a place where Jews could live without fear of persecution according to one of the Erdogan aligned newspaper the Daily Sabah.20 Indeed this tolerance extended into the post-Sultan era of the Young Turks, as the Encyclopedia Judaica noted that various Zionist groups were hopeful in 1908 for opportunities to press their interests; “the absence of antisemitism in Turkey made the idea [Jewish settlement in Palestine] possible”.21 Talaat specifically was very open to these ideas;

"Four years later Talaat even propagated the fantastic idea of a 'Muslim-Jewish Alliance.' The Balkan wars had plunged the Ottoman Empire into financial ruin and Talaat, who became a key member of the CUP's ruling triumvirate following the military coup of January 1913, expected the Zionists to link the empire with the fabulous wealth of 'world Jewry.'"22

Knowing this background of the states historical pluralism, alongside the progressive and secular motto of the new government and its noted tolerance of Jewish minorities, one has to ask how a genocide could have even been possible. How could such a progressive government proceed to horrifically genocide many of the states indigenous Christian populations?

If we take a closer look at the killings we come across many disturbing disparities in the treatment of these minority groups. After all in the Great fire of Smyrna catastrophe of 1922 the Christian Armenian and Christian Greek sections of the city were destroyed while the Jewish and Turkish sections were not.23 In 1918, three years after the passing of the Tehcir law, Talaat Pasha made a Turkish Balfour declaration equivalent expressing support for the establishment of Jewish Palestine.24 Clearly it is a strange sort of nationalism the Western world is unfamiliar with when the Jewish minorities are spared.

The Armenian Holocaust was not only unexpected by the victims but in fact it is still to this day denied by the perpetrator state Turkey. And until recently, the execution of the genocide itself was only known by third party observers, with the state of Turkey claiming the genocide was really just a civil war. The only direct evidence of intentional genocide were in translated telegrams written in the 1921 published The Memoirs of Naim Bey which lost much of the source material telegrams. In October 2016 however Prof. Taner Akçam found archived Ottoman telegrams confirming the legitimacy of various events from The Memoirs of Naim Bey and confirming that they were not mere fabrications for propaganda.25 This legitimacy was confirmed further when the “smoking gun” of April 2017 was discovered, an original telegram directly inquiring over the murder of Armenians. The official Young Turks government telegram asks directly if the deported Armenians are being killed or “merely sent off and deported”.

“Are the Armenians who were deported from there being liquidated? Are the troublesome individuals whom you have reported as having been exiled and expelled been eliminated or merely sent off and deported? Please report honestly.”26

This is a telegram with an Ottoman letterhead and with the Ottoman coding system acquired by an Armenian Catholic priest, Krikor Guerguerian. He held the evidence in a private archive wherein it was secured by his nephew. The issue being re-raised has re-opened conflicts between Turkey and the international community. During the Western progressive-leftist worlds drama over President Donald Trumps Holocaust remembrance statement of “11 million”, an angry and emotional response from the Jewish Telegraph Agency made some very interesting admissions on the Jewish Holocausts history.27

The “5 million” has driven Holocaust historians to distraction ever since Wiesenthal started to peddle it in the 1970s. Wiesenthal told the Washington Post in 1979, “I have sought with Jewish leaders not to talk about 6 million Jewish dead, but rather about 11 million civilians dead, including 6 million Jews…”“I said to him, ‘Simon, you are telling a lie,’” Bauer recalled in an interview Tuesday. “He said, ‘Sometimes you need to do that to get the results for things you think are essential.’”

Bauer and other historians who knew Wiesenthal said the Nazi hunter told them that he chose the 5 million number carefully: He wanted a number large enough to attract the attention of non-Jews who might not otherwise care about Jewish suffering, but not larger than the actual number of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, 6 million. With the newly opened international drama of the Armenian Holocaust denying Turkish government, we can find some interesting admissions of the origins of the Young Turks revolution. The Young Turks Revolution broke out in Salonica. Salonica was the largest Jewish city in the world at this time with Jewish people constituting over half the population. According to a prominent Turkish Newspaper in a very recent article on October 13th 2017; 28

“The most prominent financier and mentor of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which seized the government in 1908, was a Jewish banker of Italian origin from Salonica, Emmanuel Carasso. When Greeks, who had held a privileged status up until then, fell into disfavor after the Constantinople massacre of 1821 targeting Greeks, Jews were hoping for a second chance.However, with their art facilities scattered around Anatolia, Armenians came in first thanks to their capital surplus. As a result of the Jewish lobby's recommendations, the Young Turks government removed Armenians from Anatolia in 1915. Hence, the economy of the country was left in the hands of Jewish capital.Carasso, who was a part of the committee that informed Abdülhamid II of his dethronement, was the closest confidant of Talat Pasha, the figure responsible for the deportation law. In fact, when Talat Pasha escaped abroad in 1918, he entrusted his entire estate to Carasso. To take an active role in the foundation of the Ankara government, Carasso returned to his homeland before his death.”

The allegations of the Armenian Holocaust denying Erdogan-aligned newspaper are very important and need to be explored in depth, as these allegations may help to uncover background historical interactions between Jewish groups and European/Christian groups in a multicultural environment. In his book Banality of Indifference, Yair Auron alleges that the Jewish citizens of Turkey during this time were apathetic to the murdered Armenians. Regarding the attitude of the Jews towards the Armenians, he wrote:

"A slight grimace on their lips, a short heartfelt sigh, and nothing more. The Armenians are not Jews, and according to folk tradition the Armenians are nothing more than Amaleks! Amaleks? We would give them help? To whom? To Amaleks? Heaven forbid!"29

During the 1922 great fire of Smyrna, in which the Greek and Armenian portions of the city were burned down while the Turkish and Jewish sections were spared, the accounts of Jewish teachers alleged that either the Greeks or Armenians started the fire themselves.30 This apathetic and dismissive attitude has even been shown in the Jewish “Anti-defamation league” which as recently as 2007 campaigned against the American governments recognition of the Armenian Holocaust.

“Foxman finally acknowledged the Armenian Genocide in his remarks. It was an encouraging development given that ADL’s only formal statement on the genocide is worded in such a way as to actually circumvent the intent required for a finding of genocide by the UN Genocide Convention.”31“That statement, issued in 2007, said that the “consequences” of the Turkish massacres of Armenians were “tantamount” to genocide, implying it was not a planned extermination. This statement was widely censured, but calls for an unambiguous confirmation were rebuffed by ADL.”

It needs to be noted here that the American ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau was himself a Jew, and quickly became of the fiercest advocates for recognition of this genocide, and even demanded American intervention to protect the Armenian victims. But of course exceptions don’t break the rule. The post-WW2 world has served to served to center all discussions of prejudice on nomadic minority ethnic groups. The topic is very well studied with any and all possible ethnic and political roots examined. By contrast, prejudice and oppression of Indo-European nationalities and their culture or religious practices are not widely discussed. While these events are minimized in the social/academic spheres of the Western world, Christophobia and Europhobia have not only happened historically but continue to happen today.

This lack of study for this sort of prejudice is very problematic for the modern “multicultural world” especially as anti-European/Christian prejudices are increasingly apparent and ignored by the mainstream media/academia. This lack of study needs to be adequately addressed. The future and survival of European Christendom is depending on it.

The story of the Armenian Legion is finally being told – and it is a dark tale of anger and revenge

Governments at war make dangerous promises. And the First World War was a time of promises and lies. The promises came first: in 1916, the British told the Arabs they could have independence; in 1917, they told the Jews they could have a homeland; and the French told the survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide that they could return to liberate their homelands in eastern Turkey. Then came the betrayalsSuperpowers like legions, the Roman variety, preferably when they are composed of foreigners. So the British created an Arab Legion to fight against the Ottoman Turks for independence and a Jewish Legion to fight against the Ottoman Turks for Palestine. And the French created an Armenian Legion – an offshoot of the French Foreign Legion, needless to say – to fight against the Ottoman Turks for Cilicia. The Arabs lost Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, the Jews did not get all of Palestine, and the soldiers of the Armenian Legion – having helped to liberate Palestine – were abandoned amid the ashes of their own burnt cities. Among the indigenous peoples of the Middle East, they were the most traduced of all, since they recovered not a square inch of their land. To be a loser doesn’t get you much purchase in the history books. To be a loser twice over turns you into a curio. Thus the story of the Armenian Legion has until now been largely untold and unremembered. And Armenian Legionnaires: Sacrifice and Betrayal in World War I, Susan Paul Pattie’s first and original account of the fury, heartbreak and suffering of its soldiers – women as well as men in that most misogynistic of 20th century wars – is not for the faint-hearted. There are Armenian troops, armed and in uniform, desperately searching the Constantinople-bound Turkish refugee trains for Armenian girls who had been raped and kidnapped by the Ottomans who had butchered their families. “Too late,” young women told their would-be rescuers. They preferred to stay with their new Turkish husbands, or at least refused to be separated from their half-Armenian and half-Turkish children. One Armenian woman, travelling by rail with a Turkish family, was discovered by soldiers of the Armenian Legion, her chest “adorned with gold”, and refused to be separated from her companions. She was taken from the carriage at the next station and “married to the legionnaire who had rescued her”. Sarkis Najarian “saw a rich Turkish family travelling [on the train between Adana and Mersin] with a pretty girl whom he thought must be Armenian”. He managed to separate her from the family and sent her to an orphanage. There had been many forced conversions of Armenian women although we rarely hear the women’s account of these “rescues”. Najarian’s own sister Yeghsabet, when he discovered her, was already engaged and refused to leave her fiance, fearing for her life and offering Najarian money to go away. When he found her later, “she was married to a rich [Arab] Bedouin, tattooed – and happy”. There is a photograph of a young and beautiful Yeghsabet in a veil. “I have Armenian blood,” she would later tell her brother, “but I was raised a Muslim. When I hear the call to prayer, I have to do my prayers until the end of my life.” Many of the men in the original legion had been signed up by the French in Egypt where they had settled with their families after a French warship rescued them in 1915 from the famous 40-day siege by the Turks at Musa Dagh. Others came from Europe, even from America, men who spoke French and American English as well as Armenian, anxious to fight for their still nonexistent nation after the horror and humiliation of the Turkish genocide of a million-and-a-half of their own Armenian people. By July 1918, the French had registered 58 Armenian officers, 4,360 soldiers – including 288 French Armenians – and two artillery gun crews with 37mm artillery. But while Susan Pattie, a scholar of Armenian history at University College, clearly sympathises with her heroes, there is an ugly undertow of revenge in their desire to fight for the Allies. Fighting in Palestine at the 1918 Battle of Megiddo – the original Armageddon, which the Armenians call Arara – they received an official commendation for gallantry from General Edmund Allenby. But Hovannes Garabedian was to recall how he and his Armenian comrades found the Turkish trenches filled with their dead and dying enemies. “The ones who were not totally dead proved to be the most unfortunate,” he said. “The memory of yesterday’s genocide … was so fresh in our minds, the thirst for revenge was so profound in the hearts of the Armenian legionnaires, the wounded Turks found no mercy. They were finished in their trenches.” Again and again, in Pattie’s story, there are references to this most pitiful, comprehensible and terrible of emotions among a persecuted people: the need for vengeance and reprisals. As the Armenian soldiers advanced with French and British troops back into the Cilician/Armenian fields and mountains from which they and their families had been driven by the Turkish genociders three years earlier, there was violence and murder. And with the rise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s nationalist uprising against the Allies, the French found their Armenian Legion an embarrassment rather than a trusted auxiliary. Surviving Armenian families who had trekked back in hope to their cremated homes in Marash found themselves dispossessed of their lands again, massacred once more in their thousands, joining retreating Armenian soldiers in the French withdrawal, many dying, frozen and starving, in their second exodus from Turkish Armenia in five years. Hovannes Garabedian wrote of how, in hospital, he heard with joy the news of the Allied powers’ recognition of an “Independent Republic of Armenia” and then, three days later, learned that the Turks were again slaughtering and deporting the Armenians of Marash. “Suddenly, the days of excitement and happiness were replaced by long days and years of sorrow and mourning.” The victorious western powers wanted no more of their colonising war in Cilicia – not far away, the British were at the same time facing an Arab uprising in Iraq – and, in some cases, French officers virtually abandoned their Armenian legionnaires who were officially still part of the French army. They were to do the same to their faithful “Harkis” in Algeria just over four decades later. The Armenians, in their pride and revenge, could not, perhaps, be expected to understand how soon their road to Golgotha would have to be retrodden. Did they not recognise their grim future when the Armenians were refused participation at the Versailles peace conference in 1919? Should they not have been included as joint Allied victors over the German-Austro-Hungarian-Ottoman alliance in the First World War? Attacked by bandits, demobilised Turkish soldiers, hunger and thirst, the retreating soldiers of “liberation” found themselves asking another question of all those who suffer refugeedom. How come some Armenian families had remained in their villages during the genocide? What deals had they struck with their Turkish oppressors? Why were Armenian girl refugees found with Bedouin tattoos on their faces, marks which were surgically removed by their “rescuers”. Shame, like defeat, was a feeling rarely uttered but much felt. There are, remarkably, documentary photographs of the Adana battle, of men digging trenches and Armenian soldiers slogging across the hillsides of Marash. With the subtlety of all great powers, the Allies spoke not of betrayal. They called it “the Marash Affair”. The rump nation Armenia which emerged to the east – quickly engorged by the Soviets and today a brave but often corrupt state – was of little interest to the men of the disbanded Armenian legion. The survivors returned to refugee families in Lebanon – at least one became a Beirut policeman – or to homes in France or in America where they often flourished and sometimes met for picnics, holding old flags and remembering false promises from powerful nations and creating little Armenias in their countries of exile. Lieutenant John Shishmanian even received a personal post-war letter from General Allenby. “I am sorry, if the gallant conduct of the Armenians was not sufficiently recognised,” the great man – now high commissioner in Egypt – wrote from Cairo just after Christmas in 1919. “I know they fought nobly, and I am proud to have had them under my command.” The Battle of Arara – Megiddo or Armageddon to us – left its 23 Armenian dead in the desert, their bones later gathered and transshipped to the Armenian St James church in Jerusalem. The ashes of Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe were buried in Westminster Abbey.

There is a historical “eight hundred pound gorilla” lurking in the background of almost every serious military and diplomatic incident involving Israel, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Greece, Armenia, the Kurds, the Assyrians, and some other players in the Middle East and southeastern Europe. It is a factor that is generally only whispered about at diplomatic receptions, news conferences, and think tank sessions due to the explosiveness and controversial nature of the subject. And it is the secretiveness attached to the subject that has been the reason for so much misunderstanding about the current breakdown in relations between Israel and Turkey, a growing warming of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and increasing enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran…

Although known to historians and religious experts, the centuries-old political and economic influence of a group known in Turkish as the “Dönmeh” is only beginning to cross the lips of Turks, Arabs, and Israelis who have been reluctant to discuss the presence in Turkey and elsewhere of a sect of Turks descended from a group of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition in the 16th and 17th centuries. These Jewish refugees from Spain were welcomed to settle in the Ottoman Empire and over the years they converted to a mystical sect of Islam that eventually mixed Jewish Kabbala and Islamic Sufi semi-mystical beliefs into a sect that eventually championed secularism in post-Ottoman Turkey. It is interesting that “Dönmeh” not only refers to the Jewish “untrustworthy converts” to Islam in Turkey but it is also a derogatory Turkish word for a transvestite, or someone who is claiming to be someone they are not.

The Donmeh sect of Judaism was founded in the 17th century by Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi, a Kabbalist who believed he was the Messiah but was forced to convert to Islam by Sultan Mehmet IV, the Ottoman ruler. Many of the rabbi’s followers, known as Sabbateans, but also “crypto-Jews,” publicly proclaimed their Islamic faith but secretly practiced their hybrid form of Judaism, which was unrecognized by mainstream Jewish rabbinical authorities. Because it was against their beliefs to marry outside their sect, the Dönmeh created a rather secretive sub-societal clan.

The Dönmeh rise to power in Turkey

Many Dönmeh, along with traditional Jews, became powerful political and business leaders in Salonica. It was this core group of Dönmeh, which organized the secret Young Turks, also known as the Committee of Union and Progress, the secularists who deposed Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II in the 1908 revolution, proclaimed the post-Ottoman Republic of Turkey after World War I, and who instituted a campaign that stripped Turkey of much of its Islamic identity after the fall of the Ottomans. Abdulhamid II was vilified by the Young Turks as a tyrant, but his only real crime appears to have been to refuse to meet Zionist leader Theodore Herzl during a visit to Constantinople in 1901 and reject Zionist and Dönmeh offers of money in return for the Zionists to be granted control of Jerusalem.

Like other leaders who have crossed the Zionists, Sultan Adulhamid II appears to have sealed his fate with the Dönmeh with this statement to his Ottoman court: “Advise Dr. Herzl not to take any further steps in his project. I cannot give away even a handful of the soil of this land for it is not my own, it belongs to the entire Islamic nation. The Islamic nation fought jihad for the sake of this land and had watered it with their blood. The Jews may keep their money and millions. If the Islamic Khalifate state is one day destroyed then they will be able to take Palestine without a price! But while I am alive, I would rather push a sword into my body than see the land of Palestine cut and given away from the Islamic state.” After his ouster by Ataturk’s Young Turk Dönmeh in 1908, Abdulhamid II was jailed in the Donmeh citadel of Salonica. He died in Constantinople in 1918, three years after Ibn Saud agreed to a Jewish homeland in Palestine and one year after Lord Balfour deeded Palestine away to the Zionists in his letter to Baron Rothschild.

One of the Young Turk leaders in Salonica was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. When Greece achieved sovereignty over Salonica in 1913, many Dönmeh, unsuccessful at being re-classified Jewish, moved to Constantinople, later re-named Istanbul. Others moved to Izmir, Bursa, and Ataturk’s newly-proclaimed capital and future seat of Ergenekon power, Ankara. Some texts suggest that the Dönmeh numbered no more than 150,000 and were mainly found in the army, government, and business. However, other experts suggest that the Dönmeh may have represented 1.5 million Turks and were even more powerful than believed by many and extended to every facet of Turkish life. One influential Donmeh, Tevfik Rustu Arak, was a close friend and adviser to Ataturk and served as Turkey’s Foreign Minister from 1925 to 1938.

Ataturk, who was reportedly himself a Dönmeh, ordered that Turks abandon their own Muslim-Arabic names. The name of the first Christian emperor of Rome, Constantine, was erased from the largest Turkish city, Constantinople. The city became Istanbul, after the Ataturk government in 1923 objected to the traditional name. There have been many questions about Ataturk’s own name, since “Mustapha Kemal Ataturk” was a pseudonym. Some historians have suggested that Ataturk adopted his name because he was a descendant of none other than Rabbi Zevi, the self-proclaimed Messiah of the Dönmeh! Ataturk also abolished Turkey’s use of the Arabic script and forced the country to adopt the western alphabet.

Modern Turkey: a secret Zionist state controlled by the Dönmeh

Ataturk’s suspected strong Jewish roots, information about which was suppressed for decades by a Turkish government that forbade anything critical of the founder of modern Turkey, began bubbling to the surface, first, mostly outside of Turkey and in publications written by Jewish authors. The 1973 book, The Secret Jews, by Rabbi Joachim Prinz, maintains that Ataturk and his finance minister, Djavid Bey, were both committed Dönmeh and that they were in good company because “too many of the Young Turks in the newly formed revolutionary Cabinet prayed to Allah, but had their real prophet [Sabbatai Zevi, the Messiah of Smyrna].” In The Forward of January 28, 1994, Hillel Halkin wrote in The New York Sun that Ataturk recited the Jewish Shema Yisrael (“Hear O Israel”), saying that it was “my prayer too.” The information is recounted from an autobiography by journalist Itamar Ben-Avi, who claims Ataturk, then a young Turkish army captain, revealed he was Jewish in a Jerusalem hotel bar one rainy night during the winter of 1911. In addition, Ataturk attended the Semsi Effendi grade school in Salonica, run by a Dönmeh named Simon Zevi. Halkin wrote in the New York Sun article about an email he received from a Turkish colleague: “I now know – know (and I haven’t a shred of doubt) – that Ataturk’s father’s family was indeed of Jewish stock.”

It was Ataturk’s and the Young Turks’ support for Zionism, the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, after World War I and during Nazi rule in Europe that endeared Turkey to Israel and vice versa. An article in The Forward of May 8, 2007, revealed that Dönmeh dominated Turkish leadership “from the president down, as well as key diplomats . . . and a great part of Turkey’s military, cultural, academic, economic, and professional elites” kept Turkey out of a World War II alliance with Germany, and deprived Hitler of a Turkish route to the Baku oilfields.” In his book, The Donme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries and Secular Turks, Professor Marc David Baer wrote that many advanced to exalted positions in the Sufi religious orders.

Israel has always been reluctant to describe the Turkish massacre of the Armenians by the Turks in 1915 as “genocide.” It has always been believed that the reason for Israel’s reticence was not to upset Israel’s close military and diplomatic ties with Turkey. However, more evidence is being uncovered that the Armenian genocide was largely the work of the Dönmeh leadership of the Young Turks. Historians like Ahmed Refik, who served as an intelligence officer in the Ottoman army, averred that it was the aim of the Young Turks to destroy the Armenians, who were mostly Christian. The Young Turks, under Ataturk’s direction, also expelled Greek Christians from Turkish cities and attempted to commit a smaller-scale genocide of the Assyrians, who were also mainly Christian.

One Young Turk from Salonica, Mehmet Talat, was the official who carried out the genocide of the Armenians and Assyrians. A Venezuelan mercenary who served in the Ottoman army, Rafael de Nogales Mendez, noted in his annals of the Armenian genocide that Talat was known as the “renegade Hebrew of Salonica.” Talat was assassinated in Germany in 1921 by an Armenian whose entire family was lost in the genocide ordered by the “renegade Hebrew.” It is believed by some historians of the Armenian genocide that the Armenians, known as good businessmen, were targeted by the business-savvy Dönmeh because they were considered to be commercial competitors.

It is not, therefore, the desire to protect the Israeli-Turkish alliance that has caused Israel to eschew any interest in pursuing the reasons behind the Armenian genocide, but Israel’s and the Dönmeh’s knowledge that it was the Dönmeh leadership of the Young Turks that not only murdered hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Assyrians but who also stamped out Turkey’s traditional Muslim customs and ways. Knowledge that it was Dönmeh, in a natural alliance with the Zionists of Europe, who were responsible for the deaths of Armenian and Assyrian Christians, expulsion from Turkey of Greek Orthodox Christians, and the cultural and religious eradication of Turkish Islamic traditions, would issue forth in the region a new reality. Rather than Greek and Turkish Cypriots living on a divided island, Armenians holding a vendetta against the Turks, and Greeks and Turks feuding over territory, all the peoples attacked by the Dönmeh would realize that they had a common foe that was their actual persecutor.

Challenging Dönmeh rule: Turkey’s battle against the Ergenekon

It is the purging of the Kemalist adherents of Ataturk and his secular Dönmeh regime that is behind the investigation of the Ergenekon conspiracy in Turkey. Ergenekon’s description matches up completely with the Dönmeh presence in Turkey’s diplomatic, military, judicial, religious, political, academic, business, and journalist hierarchy. Ergenekon attempted to stop the reforms instituted by successive non-Dönmeh Turkish leaders, including the re-introduction of traditional Turkish Islamic customs and rituals, by planning a series of coups, some successful like that which deposed Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan’s Refah (Welfare) Islamist government in 1996 and some unsuccessful, like OPERATION SLEDGEHEMMER, which was aimed at deposing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2003. Some Islamist-leaning reformists, including Turkish President Turgut Ozal and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, died under suspicious circumstances. Deposed democratically-elected Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was hanged in 1961, following a military coup.

American politicians and journalists, whose knowledge of the history of countries like Turkey and the preceding Ottoman Empire, is often severely lacking, have painted the friction between Israel’s government and the Turkish government of Prime Minister Erdogan as based on Turkey’s drift to Islamism and the Arab world. Far from it, Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) seem to have finally seen a way to break free from the domination and cruelty of the Dönmeh, whether in the form of Kemalist followers of Ataturk or nationalist schemers and plotters in Ergenekon. But with Turkey’s “Independence Day” has come vitriol from the Dönmeh and their natural allies in Israel and the Israel Lobby in the United States and Europe. Turkey as a member of the European Union was fine for Europe as long as the Dönmeh remained in charge and permitted Turkey’s wealth to be looted by central bankers like has occurred in Greece.

When Israel launched its bloody attack on the Turkish Gaza aid vessel, the Mavi Marmara, on May 31, 2010, the reason was not so much the ship’s running of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The brutality of the Israelis in shooting unarmed Turks and one Turkish-American, some at point blank range, according to a UN report, indicated that Israel was motivated by something else: vengeance and retaliation for the Turkish government’s crackdown on Ergenekon, the purging of the Turkish military and intelligence senior ranks of Dönmeh, and reversing the anti-Muslim religious and cultural policies set down by the Dönmeh’s favorite son, Ataturk, some ninety years before. In effect, the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara was in retaliation for Turkey’s jailing of several top Turkish military officers, journalists, and academics, all accused of being part of the Ergenekon plot to overthrow the AKP government in 2003. Hidden in the Ergenekon coup plot is that the Dönmeh and Ergenekon are connected through their history of being Kemalists, ardent secularists, pro-Israeli, and pro-Zionist.

With tempers now flaring between Iran on one side and Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States on the other, as the result of a dubious claim by U.S. law enforcement that Iran was planning to carry out the assassination of the Saudi ambassador to the United States on American soil, the long-standing close, but secretive relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia is coming to the forefront. The Israeli-Saudi connection had flourished during OPERATION DESERT STORM, when both countries were on the receiving end of Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles.

Last April 24 was Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Millions of Armenians around the world remembered how the Islamic Ottoman Empire killed — often cruelly and out of religious hatred — some 1.5 million of their ancestors during World War I. Ironically, most people, including most Armenians, are unaware that the first genocide of Christian Armenians at the hands of Muslim Turks did not occur in the twentieth century. Rather, it began in 1019 — exactly one thousand years ago this year — when Turks first began to pour into and transform a then much larger Armenia into what it is today, the eastern portion of modern-day Turkey. Thus, in 1019, "the first appearance of the bloodthirsty beasts ... the savage nation of infidels called Turks entered Armenia ... and mercilessly slaughtered the Christian faithful with the sword," writes Matthew of Edessa (d. 1144), a chief source for this period. Three decades later, the raids were virtually nonstop. In 1049, the founder of the Turkic Seljuk Empire himself, Sultan Tughril Bey (r. 1037–1063), reached the unwalled city of Arzden, west of Lake Van, and "put the whole town to the sword, causing severe slaughter, as many as one hundred and fifty thousand persons." After thoroughly plundering the city — which reportedly contained eight hundred churches — he ordered it set ablaze and turned into a desert. Arzden was "filled with bodies," and none "could count the number of those who perished in the flames." The invaders "burned priests whom they seized in the churches and massacred those whom they found outside. They put great chunks of pork in the hands of the undead to insult us" — Muslims deem the pig unclean — "and made them objects of mockery to all who saw them."Eight hundred oxen and forty camels were required to cart out the vast plunder, mostly taken from Arzden's churches. "How to relate here, with a voice stifled by tears, the death of nobles and clergy whose bodies, left without graves, became the prey of carrion beasts, the exodus of women ... led with their children into Persian slavery and condemned to an eternal servitude! That was the beginning of the misfortunes of Armenia," laments Matthew. "So, lend an ear to this melancholy recital." Contemporaries confirm the devastation visited upon Arzden. "Like famished dogs," writes Aristakes (d. 1080), an eyewitness, "bands of infidels hurled themselves on our city, surrounded it and pushed inside, massacring the men and mowing everything down like reapers in the fields, making the city a desert. Without mercy, they incinerated those who had hidden themselves in houses and churches." Similarly, during the Turkic siege of Sebastia (modern-day Sivas) in 1060, six hundred churches were destroyed, and "many [more] maidens, brides, and distinguished ladies were led into captivity to Persia." Another raid on Armenian territory saw "many and innumerable people who were burned [to death]." The atrocities are too many for Matthew to recount, and he frequently ends in resignation:

Who is able to relate the happenings and ruinous events which befell the Armenians, for everything was covered with blood[.] ... Because of the great number of corpses, the land stank, and all of Persia was filled with innumerable captives; thus this whole nation of beasts became drunk with blood. All human beings of Christian faith were in tears and in sorrowful affliction, because God our creator had turned away His benevolent face from us.

Nor was there much doubt concerning what fueled the Turks' animus: "This nation of infidels comes against us because of our Christian faith and they are intent on destroying the ordinances of the worshippers of the cross and on exterminating the Christian faithful," one David, head of an Armenian region, explained to his countrymen. Therefore, "it is fitting and right for all the faithful to go forth with their swords and to die for the Christian faith." Many were of the same mind; records tell of monks and priests, fathers, wives, and children, all shabbily armed but zealous to protect their way of life, coming out to face the invaders — to little avail. Anecdotes of faith-driven courage also permeate the chronicles. During the first Turkic siege of Manzikert in 1054, when a massive catapult pummeled and caused its walls to quake, a Catholic Frank holed up in with the Orthodox Armenians volunteered to sacrifice himself: "I will go forth and burn down that catapult, and today my blood shall be shed for all the Christians, for I have neither wife nor children to weep over me." The Frank succeeded and returned to gratitude and honors. Adding insult to injury, the defenders catapulted a pig into the Muslim camp while shouting, "O sultan [Tughril], take that pig for your wife, and we will give you Manzikert as a dowry!" "Filled with anger, Tughril had all Christian prisoners in his camp ritually decapitated." Between 1064 and 1065, Tughril's successor, Sultan Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri — known to posterity as Alp Arslan, a Turkish honorific meaning "Heroic Lion" — "going forth full of rage and with a formidable army," laid siege to Ani, the fortified capital of Armenia, then a great and populous city. The thunderous bombardment of Muhammad's siege engines caused the entire city to quake, and Matthew describes countless terror-stricken families huddled together and weeping. Once inside, the Islamic Turks — reportedly armed with two knives in each hand and an extra in their mouths — "began to mercilessly slaughter the inhabitants of the entire city ... and piling up their bodies one on top of the other[.] ... Beautiful and respectable ladies of high birth were led into captivity into Persia. Innumerable and countless boys with bright faces and pretty girls were carried off together with their mothers." The most savage treatment was always reserved for those visibly proclaiming their Christianity: clergy and monks "were burned to death, while others were flayed alive from head to toe." Every monastery and church — before this, Ani was known as "the City of 1,001 Churches" — was pillaged, desecrated, and set aflame. A zealous jihadi climbed atop the city's main cathedral "and pulled down the very heavy cross which was on the dome, throwing it to the ground," before entering and defiling the church. Made of pure silver and the "size of a man" — and now symbolic of Islam's might over Christianity, the broken crucifix was sent as a trophy to adorn a mosque in modern-day Azerbaijan. Not only do several Christian sources document the sack of Armenia's capital — one contemporary succinctly notes that Muhammad "rendered Ani a desert by massacres and fire" — but so do Muslim sources, often in apocalyptic terms: "I wanted to enter the city and see it with my own eyes," one Arab explained. "I tried to find a street without having to walk over the corpses. But that was impossible." Such is an idea of what Muslim Turks did to Christian Armenians — not during the Armenian Genocide of a century ago, but exactly one thousand years ago, starting in 1019, when the Turkic invasion and subsequent colonization of Armenia began. Even so, and as an example of surreal denial, Turkey's foreign minister, capturing popular Turkish sentiment, recently announced, "We [Turks] are proud of our history because our history has never had any genocides. And no colonialism exists in our history."

2 comments:

It appears that the Armenian-Russia configuration requires a common border at any cost ? It is risible and fatuous to even think of any probability of either Turkey or Azerbaijan allowing Armenia to exist in the future. Armenia is boxed in. It needs to break out of the box and border link with its patron. Unfortunately the change in territorial configuration can only come about through war.Borders can never be transcended or reconfigured via talks, boardroom discussions or exchange of diplomatic platitudes.Azerbijan is not really a nation with an ethnic compact. It is gregariously riven with ethnic groups. Azerbaijan can be carved up. Azerbaijan is an important cog in the PanTuranian wheel. Without it Pan turanism is a flim flam waffle. To achieve Pan Turanism the turks have to get Armenia out of the way. This task is accomplishable provided Iran and Russia acquiesced to it. At the moment in the geopolitical chessboard this move appears remote and unlikely due to Russia opposition to it , and to a lesser extent Iran's. It would seem logical that Russia henceforth need to start thinking and working toward achieving Armenias exit from her boxed in predicament. All the possible scenarios to spring open her entrapped and landlocked situation are in the realm of military speculation. I am certain that planners and stategists have some ready made models on the shelves. The choices for Armenia are limited. She can stay with her status quo, hoping that her enemies would go on a long slumber and leave her alone, or think tanks require high activation levels to ponder a way out which will ultimately create a common border with Russia. There are no other options. Armenia is a hidden treasure, a veritable garden of Eden,that is why she is coveted by her neighbours , in spite of her lack of natural resources,that is why she is envied viciously by turks and alike, that is why she can never lapse in concentration and let her guard down. The stakes can not get any higher, it is survival or else.

Arevordi will be taking a sabbatical to tend to personal matters. New blog commentaries will henceforth be posted on an irregular basis. The comments board however will continue to be moderated on a regular basis.

The last 20 years or so has also helped me see Russia as the last front against scourges of Westernization, Globalism, American expansionism, Zionism, Islamic extremism and pan-Turkism. I have also come to see Russia as the last hope humanity has for the preservation of classical western civilization, Apostolic Christianity and the traditional nation-state. This realization compelled me to create this blog in 2010. Immediately, this blog became one of the very few voices in the vastness of cyberia that dared to preach about the dangers of Globalism and the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance, and the only voice preaching the strategic importance of Armenia remaining within Russia's orbit. From about 2010 to 2015 I did monthly, at times weekly, commentaries about Russian-Armenian relations and Eurasian geopolitics in general. It was very difficult as I had no assistance in this endeavor. The time I put into this blog therefore came at the expense of work and family. But a powerful feeling inside me urged me to keep going; and I did.

When Armenia finally joined the EEU and integrated its armed forces into Russia's military structures a couple of years ago, I finally felt a deep sense of satisfaction and relaxation, as if a very heavy burden was lifted off my shoulders. I finally felt that my personal mission was accomplished. I therefore felt I could take a step back, as I really needed the rest. Simply put: I have lived to see the institutionalization of Russian-Armenian alliance. Also, I feel more confident now that Armenians are collectively recognizing the strategic importance of Armenia's ties with Russia. Moreover, I feel satisfied knowing that, at least on a subatomic level, I had a hand in the outcome. As a result, I feel a strong sense of mission accomplished. I therefore no longer have the urge to continue as in the past. In other words, the motivational force that had propelled me in previous years has been gradually dissipating because I feel that this blog has lived to see the realization of its stated goal. Going forward, I do not want to write merely for the sake of writing. Also, I do not want to say something if I have nothing important to say. I feel like I have said everything I needed to say. Henceforth, I will post seasonal commentaries about topics I find important. I will however continue moderating the blog's comments section on a regular basis; ultimately because I'm interested in what my readers have to say and also because it's through readers here that I am at times made aware of interesting developments.

To limit clutter in the comments section, I kindly ask all participants of this blog to please keep comments coherent and strictly relevant to the featured topic of discussion. Moreover, please realize that when there are several anonymous visitors posting comments simultaneously, it becomes very confusing (not to mention extremely annoying) trying to figure out who is who and who said what.Therefore, if you are here to engage in conversation, make an observation, express an idea or simply attack me, I ask you to at least use a moniker to identify yourself. Moreover, please appreciate the fact that I have put an enormous amount of information into this blog. In my opinion, most of my blog commentaries and articles, some going back ten-plus years, are in varying degrees relevant to this day and will remain so for a long time to come. Articles in this blog can therefore be revisited by longtime readers and new comers alike. I therefore ask the reader to treat this blog as a depository of important information relating to Eurasian geopolitics, Russian-Armenian relations and humanity's historic fight against the evils of Globalism and Westernization.

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Mission statement

About Me

I'm not here to make friends nor am I here to talk about girls, sports, cars or music. I'm here to have an impact on the minds of young, Anglophone Armenians. I want to expose visitors to this blog to an alternative perspective on Armenology, Christianity, history and the most important yet least understood topic on earth - geopolitics. Armenians need to be proud of the fact that their ancient homeland is the origin of human civilization. Armenians need to realize that Christ was not the Jewish Messiah. Armenians must understand that Armenia belongs within Russia's orbit. I have been closely observing Russia since Vladimir Putin's rise to power. Putin is one of the greatest political figures in history. With the Anglo-American-Zionist global establishment's toxic effects all around us, Putin's Russia has risen to become the last hope for the traditional nation-state and European civilization. The Caucasus is a violent and unforgiving place. Armenia's survival as a nation in the south Caucasus is only made possible by the presence of a strong Russia within the region. Hail Russia - the last front against Western imperialism, Globalism, Zionism, Islamic extremism and pan-Turkism.